Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws enacted by the United States Congress, signed by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 30, 1906 and effective January 1, 1907, and it led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. The act recognized the U.S. Pharmacopeia and the National Formulary as standards authorities for drugs, though it made no equivalent provision for federal food standards, and it required labels to disclose any of ten ingredients deemed addictive or dangerous. Passage followed 27 years of advocacy dating to an 1882 Scientific American article proposing regulatory language. The act was superseded by the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938.