Historical Timeline Paper: The Pure Food and Drug Act
Introduction
The need to regulate, prohibit and prevent the interstate transportation and sale of contaminated, impure and misbranded foods and drugs resulted to the initiation of “Pure Food and Drug Act (PFDA)” in the year 1906. (Young, 1989). This assignment seeks to describe the PFDA Act, the historical overview of the law relating to PFDA, impact of the Act to the American society and the applicability of the PFDA in counseling.
Historical Event
The Pure Food and Drug Act (PFDA) of 1906 was passed in order to prevent misrepresented and harmful foods and drugs from being manufactured, distributed, sold, misbranded, and circulated in the interstate trade. (Barkan, 1985). The Act made it clear that by knowingly making or selling in any way, form, or shape of food or medication that would be harmful to the consumer was illegal. Prior to the creation of the PFDA, the production, distribution, conveyance of misbranding and selling of harmful or hazardous food or medicine, and alcohol or drugs were in place and in circulation. (Young, 1989). In the American history, the PFDA was the 1st law to establish in order to regulate food producers and pharmaceuticals by requiring truth-in-products labeling, establishing drug and food manufacturing process inspectors, and defining a list of ten hazardous drugs that had to be at all time labelled.
According to (Law & Libecap, 2006), this Act was resorted to during America’s progressive era. In this period, the American reformers wanted to raise the social and moral fabric of the country through prohibition, improving sanitation and health, cleaning corruption by politicians, and improving the public services especially for the poor immigrants. As per Young, (1989), this Act is now enforced to protect consumers from ingesting any drug or food that would harm their health; for example drugs and food containing chemicals. Last, the Act now requires that samples of food and drugs be taken to the Bureau of the Chemistry of Agriculture Department to find out whether the articles content violate in any way the meaning of PFDA.
Law(s) Related to the Drug
According to (Barkan, 1985), the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act was the first in over 200 laws to effectively work in protecting public and consumer health. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has enforced other laws to reinforce the PFDA and outlaw the state from the buying and selling tainted and mislabeled drugs, drinks and foods. The FDA’s congregational milestones include:
The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FDC) Act of1938: The FDA enforced this law after 107 people died out of consuming a legally marketed toxic elixir; many children died. According to (Young, 1989), the FDC Act transformed America’s health system. The law mandated the FDA to do factory inspections, to issue the approved standards for food, and to demand evidence of new drugs safety from the licensed producers among many other provisions.
Durham-Humphrey Amendment of 1951: Thus law was passed to state the types of drugs that people cannot consumer without safe medical prescription and supervision. The law relates to the PFDA in that it regulates the sale of these drugs to only medical professional prescription.
The Kefauver-Harris Amendments of 1962: The FDA enforced this law after a new sleeping pill (thalidomide) led to severe birth defects on the legs and arms of many Western Europe babies. FDA medical officer, Kelsey disallowed the marketing of this drug in the U.S. and this stirred up strong support for stronger drug laws by the public. (Law & Libecap, 2006). As per the law, manufacturers are entitled to prove the effectiveness of their drugs before FDA’s approval.
Impact of Drug on Society
Prior to the enforcement of the Pure Food and Drug Act, the society reported many cases of birth defects, drug allergies, deaths for consuming toxic drugs and foods, corruption and politicking, moral decay, and high crime rates among many other social problems. However, Young, (1989) state that the Pure Food and Drug Act marked a new beginning and era to the American society. The PFDA has protected the American consumers and no longer use misbranded cheap drugs and foods. (Barkan, 1985). Manufacturers of drug and food no longer mislabel or make false claims to their products to deceive the consumer; health concerns of the society have been upheld.
The companies that cannot follow the new food and drug laws have shut down and licenses withdrawn by the FDA until full compliance. The medicines, foods, and liquors sold to the public are free from toxic substances such as chemicals, and this has increased healthy living among the society members. (Law & Libecap, 2006). The regulation of food and drug standards has barred manufactures from the production and distribution of unsatisfactory consumables thus promoting societal health safety. Last, the Pure Food and Drug Act has been a major success for the American food and drug consumers. (Young, 1989).The society has benefited from the advanced quality of food and drug and the knowledge about what the products they are consuming has been produced from.
History and Legality on Counseling Profession
Today, food addiction and drug use disorder addiction are common. Food and drug addiction are serious medical conditions that require total care. While a counselor can treat food addiction and drug addiction using different approaches, the treatment goals tend to be similar. Good examples are to reduce overeating or reduce excessive drug consumption and address issues of low self-esteem and shame. (Ponton & Duba, 2009). However, the Pure Drug and Food Act of 1906 is of great impact to modern counseling; requiring counselors to properly understand the Act and its related laws such as The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FDC) Act of1938, Durham-Humphrey Amendment of 1951 and The Kefauver-Harris Amendments of 1962 well.
Since the enforcement of this law, the quality and credibility of food and drug addiction counseling has improved. In the administration of drugs, counselors prescribe to the clients the only medicines approved by the FDA in collaboration with the American Counseling Association (ACA). (Ponton & Duba, 2009).As a result, drug addiction clients recover well and issues of anxiety, shame, low-self-esteem and hallucinations get cured. Also, counselors encounter clients who have allergies on certain foods and drugs. In reference to the PFDA, the counselors administer the right medications and recommend the allergenic-free foods to the clients in compliance with the law.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the paper has explained the history of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. The laws related to the PFDA Act of 1906 such as The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic (FDC) Act of1938, Durham-Humphrey Amendment of 1951 and The Kefauver-Harris Amendments of 1962 have also been explained. Further, the paper has discussed the impact of PFDA to the American society. Last, the paper has explained the history and legality of the Pure Food and Drug Act surrounding the profession of counseling.
References
- Barkan, I. D. (1985). Industry invites regulation: the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. American Journal of Public Health, 75(1), 18-26.
- Law, M., & Libecap, G. (2006). The Determinants of Progressive Era Reform. The Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906. In Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America’s Economic History, 5(2), 319-342.
- Ponton, R. F., & Duba, J. D. (2009). The ACA Code of Ethics: Articulating counseling’s professional covenant. Journal of Counseling & Development, 87(1), 117-121.
- Young, J. H. (1989). Pure Food: Securing the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.