100 Years

A Select History of the FDA

1906 Congress passes the Pure Food and Drugs Act, prohibiting interstate commerce in misbranded and adulterated foods, drinks, and drugs.
1912 Congress enacts the Sherley Amendment, which prohibits labeling of medicines with false therapeutic claims.
1938 After an elixir containing diethylene glycol kills 107 people in 1937, Congress passes the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act), requiring that drugs be shown to be safe before marketing.
1949 The FDA publishes Procedures for the Appraisal of the Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, which comes to be known as the "black book."
1951 The Durham-Humphrey Amendment restricts drugs that can be purchased only with a prescription.
1962 Thalidomide is found to have caused birth defects in thousands of babies born in Western Europe, but is kept from US pharmacy shelves by an FDA official.
1970 The FDA requires the first patients'...

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