Image 1: Pure Food and Drugs Act Stamp
This commemorative stamp honoring the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act was issued in 1998. The stamp was part of the U.S. Postal Service's "Celebrate the Century" program honoring the most memorable and significant people, places, events and trends of the 20th century. The image is from a proprietary tax stamp for a turn-of-the-century nostrum, Hunt's Remedy. The stamp purports to show the product's effectiveness through the allegorical vision of Death being slain by a bottle of Hunt's. Tax stamps were placed on the bottle by its manufacturer to show that a tax had been paid, and were often used as miniature advertisements. Hunt's Remedy was one of thousands of such products flooding the U.S. market at the time the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act was passed.
Image 2: Harvey Wiley and Division of Chemistry Staff--1883
Harvey Wiley, third from right, is photographed with his staff from the Division of Chemistry, U.S. Department of Agriculture, not long after he arrived in Washington in 1883. Dr. Wiley was the first head of the Division of Chemistry, which eventually became the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Image 3: Warehouse Inspection, Port of Baltimore--1991
In a 1991 inspection at the Port of Baltimore, FDA consumer safety officers A. Dean Cook (left) and Matthew Henciak bag a sample of crushed pepper that will be sent to an FDA laboratory to be examined for insects or other contaminants. FDA field personnel conducted more than 22,000 domestic and foreign inspections in fiscal year 2003 (the last year for which figures are available).
Image 4: Wiley
Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley (1844-1930), was chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, the FDA's predecessor, from 1883 to 1912. Wiley was a crusader and coalition builder in support of national food and drug regulation, which earned him the title of "Father of the Pure Food and Drugs Act" when it became law in 1906.
Image 5: Dr. Kelsey and President Kennedy
FDA medical officer Frances Kelsey receives the President's Distinguished Federal Civilian Service Award from President John F. Kennedy at a White House ceremony in 1962. The award, the highest honor available to civilian government employees, was for Dr. Kelsey's work in blocking U.S. approval of the drug thalidomide in the l960s. It's estimated that more than 10,000 children in 46 countries where the sleep aid had been approved were born with deformities as a consequence their mothers using the drug while the women were pregnant. Dr. Kelsey's refusal to approve thalidomide for use in the United States earned her national recognition, and her work led to strengthened regulation of the pharmaceutical industry. In 2000, she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, N.Y.
Image 6: Dockside inspection
FDA officials Albert A. Wauset (left) and Dale C. Miller employ Geiger counters to measure radiation levels in tuna in the mid-1950s. Because of fears about the fallout from atomic weapon testing in the Pacific, FDA--with assistance from the military--launched a clandestine effort to monitor tuna for radioactive contamination. According to Irwin B. Berch, chief inspector in FDA's Los Angeles District Office at the time, one "hot" fish was found, but the radioactivity appeared to be concentrated in the bony part of the fish;†the flesh had only low levels of radioactivity. FDA†also monitored other commodities under its jurisdiction for radiation during this period.
Image 7: FDA Scientist in Laboratory
In 1985, Dr. Charles Roberts of the FDA's Center for Drugs and Biologics checks one of the recently approved test kits for screening blood donations for evidence of the virus that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).
Image 8: Seafood inspection
FDA investigator Debra DeVlieger checks fish in Alaska for oil contamination after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound in March 1989. Investigators from the FDA field office in Seattle worked with Alaskan officials throughout that summer to keep food contaminated by the spill off the market.
Image 9: Poison Squad
Dr. Harvey Wiley (third from left) and members of the "Poison Squad" prepare to dine on a meal intentionally laced with potentially toxic chemicals to determine the effects of food preservatives on digestion and health in 1902. Overnight the press made the "Poison Squad" a national sensation. Even minstrel shows had songs about the squad -- officially designated the "Hygienic Table." Chemicals fed to the volunteers included borax; salicylic, sulphurous, and benzoic acids; and formaldehyde. The experiments went on for five years. Wiley and the public became convinced that chemical preservatives should be used in food only when necessary; that the burden of proving safety should fall on the producer; and that none should be used without informing the consumer on the label -- basic principles of today's law and regulations.