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The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906 is a United States federal law that provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicine
Patent medicine

Patent medicine is the somewhat misleading term given to various medical compounds sold under a variety of names and labels, though they were, for the most part, actually medicines with trademarks, not patented medicines....
s. The Act arose due to public education and exposés from authors such as Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair, Jr. , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning prolific United States author who wrote over 90 books in many genres and was widely considered to be one of the best investigators advocating Socialism views....
 and Samuel Hopkins Adams
Samuel Hopkins Adams

Samuel Hopkins Adams was an United States writer, best known for his investigative journalism....
, social activist Florence Kelley
Florence Kelley

Florence Kelley was a social and political reformer from Philadelphia. Her work with childrens' rights is widely regarded today....
, researcher Harvey W. Wiley
Harvey W. Wiley

Harvey Washington Wiley was a noted chemist best known for his leadership in the passage of the landmark Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and his subsequent work at the Good Housekeeping laboratories....
, and President
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
 Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt , also known as T.R., and to the public as Teddy, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
.

The Pure Food and Drug Act was initially concerned with making sure products were labeled correctly.






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The Pure Food and Drug Act of June 30, 1906 is a United States federal law that provided federal inspection of meat products and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of adulterated food products and poisonous patent medicine
Patent medicine

Patent medicine is the somewhat misleading term given to various medical compounds sold under a variety of names and labels, though they were, for the most part, actually medicines with trademarks, not patented medicines....
s. The Act arose due to public education and exposés from authors such as Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair

Upton Sinclair, Jr. , was a Pulitzer Prize-winning prolific United States author who wrote over 90 books in many genres and was widely considered to be one of the best investigators advocating Socialism views....
 and Samuel Hopkins Adams
Samuel Hopkins Adams

Samuel Hopkins Adams was an United States writer, best known for his investigative journalism....
, social activist Florence Kelley
Florence Kelley

Florence Kelley was a social and political reformer from Philadelphia. Her work with childrens' rights is widely regarded today....
, researcher Harvey W. Wiley
Harvey W. Wiley

Harvey Washington Wiley was a noted chemist best known for his leadership in the passage of the landmark Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and his subsequent work at the Good Housekeeping laboratories....
, and President
President of the United States

The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition....
 Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt , also known as T.R., and to the public as Teddy, was the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States....
.

The Pure Food and Drug Act was initially concerned with making sure products were labeled correctly. Habit-forming drugs such as cocaine
Cocaine

Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine....
 were not illegal so long as they were labeled with their contents. This labeling requirement gave way to efforts to outlaw certain products that were not safe, followed by efforts to outlaw products which were safe but not effective. Ironically, Coca-Cola Company's earlier advertising behind the Act was rewarded by an attempt to outlaw Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola is a carbonation soft drink sold in stores, restaurants and vending machines worldwide . It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company in Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke or as Cola or Pop....
 in 1909 because of its excessive caffeine
Caffeine

Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a psychoactive stimulant drug and a mild diuretic. Caffeine was discovered by a German chemist, Friedrich Ferdinand Runge, in 1819....
 content as well as its cocaine content, albeit minuscule. In the case United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola
United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola

United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola, Case citation , was a case under the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act. At issue was whether the Coca-Cola company had Adulterant the product by adding artificial caffeine, and whether Coca-Cola was misbranded because both coca and Kola nut, originally the two main "medicinal" ingred...
, the judge found that Coca-Cola had a right to use caffeine as it saw fit, although excessive litigation costs caused Coca-Cola to settle out of court with the United States Government. The caffeine amount was reduced.

The 1906 Act paved the way for the eventual creation of the Food and Drug Administration
Food and Drug Administration

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is an Government agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is responsible for regulating and supervising the safety of foods, dietary supplements, Medications, vaccines, Biopharmaceutical, blood transfusion, medical devices, Electromagnetic radiation-emitting devices, veteri...
 (FDA) and is generally considered to be that agency's founding date, though the agency existed before the law was passed and it was not named FDA until later. The law itself was largely replaced by the much more comprehensive Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938.

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