U.S. Food and Drug Administration

FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nationâ€:tm:s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by helping to speed innovations that make medicines more effective, safer, and more affordable and by helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to maintain and improve their health. FDA also has responsibility for regulating the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of tobacco products to protect the public health and to reduce tobacco use by minors. Finally, FDA plays a significant role in the Nationâ€:tm:s counterterrorism capability. FDA fulfills this responsibility by ensuring the security of the food supply and by fostering development of medical products to respond to deliberate and naturally emerging public health threats. History The Food and Drug Administration is the oldest comprehensive consumer protection agency in the U. S. federal government. Its origins can be traced back to the appointment of Lewis Caleb Beck in the Patent Office around 1848 to carry out chemical analyses of agricultural products, a function that the newly created Department of Agriculture inherited in 1862. Although it was not known by its present name until 1930, FDAâ€:tm:s modern regulatory functions began with the passage of the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act, a law a quarter-century in the making that prohibited interstate commerce in adulterated and misbranded food and drugs. Harvey Washington Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Bureau of Chemistry in the Department of Agriculture, had been the driving force behind this law and headed its enforcement in the early years, providing basic elements of protection that consumers had never known before that time. The FDA and its responsibilities have undergone a metamorphosis since 1906. Similarly, the marketplace itself, the sciences undergirding the products the agency regulates, and the social, cultural, political, and economic changes that have formed the context for these developments, all have witnessed upheavals over the past century. Yet the core public health mission of the agency remains now as it did then. This web site features a variety of portals that offer insight into these changes, from overviews on how consumer protection laws evolved, to case studies that explore and interpret the agencyâ€:tm:s work and policies. In addition, the visitor will find links to key related web sites as well as citations to valuable sources to help understand the history of FDA.