FDA Celebrates Centennial

Von Eschenbach: Eyes on the future.

Throughout 2006, FDA will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the passage the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. The act represented the founding of the modern FDA, which acting commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, describes as “the oldest consumer protection agency in the nation.” Looking forward, he says the agency will “create a science-led regulatory agency dedicated to improving and enhancing health . . . based on new opportunities, but grounded in even-greater responsibility.”

The Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906 passed during the administration of President Teddy Roosevelt. However, FDA’s actual origins go back even further—to a single chemist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1862. Since that time, FDA has grown to a staff of more than 9000 employees with a budget of nearly $1.9 billion. One-third of the agency’s staff works outside of Washington, DC, at more than 150 field offices and laboratories. Agency investigators and inspectors visit more than 16,000 facilities a year, and work with state governments to help increase the number of facilities reviewed and evaluated.

FDA has been planning its centennial celebration for more than three years. One objective of the commemoration is to position FDA as more than just an enforcement agency. Through the theme “To Protect and Promote the Public Health,” FDA hopes to promote itself as a champion of scientific advances for improved healthcare.

A division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, FDA monitors the manufacture, import, transport, storage, and sale of about $1 trillion worth of products annually at a cost to taxpayers of about $3 per person. About 25 cents of every consumer dollar is spent on products regulated by FDA.

In addition to joining in the centennial celebration, FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health will note milestones of its own in 2006, including the 35th anniversary of the transfer of the Public Health Service Bureau of Radiological Health to FDA and the 30th anniversary of the Medical Device Amendments of 1976. Passage of the 1976 amendments to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act established the foundation of today’s regulation of medical devices.

In conjunction with its 100th anniversary, FDA will be holding events throughout 2006 both in Washington, DC, and around the country. Officials unveiled the agency’s centennial banner on January 4th at Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport. Other activities are designed to “salute FDA’s accomplishments and inspire future efforts to advance science, innovation, and public health.”

Details of the centennial’s national and regional event schedule, as well as highlights from FDA history, can be found at www.fda.gov/centennial.

© 2006 Canon Communications LLC

Return to MX: Issues Update.