The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, also known as the Wiley Act and Dr. Wiley's Law, was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws enacted by the United States Congress, and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
In the late 1800s, the quality of food in the US decreased significantly as populations moved to cities and the time from farm to market increased.
The work of muckraking journalists exposed the practices of food and drug industries and caused public outcry.
That, combined with a legal requirement that all convictions be published as Notices of Judgment, proved to be important tools in the enforcement of the statute and had a deterrent effect upon would-be violators.
An 1882 article in Scientific American describes "New Laws for Analyzing Food and Drugs" and highlights historical aspects.
* If its strength or purity fall below the professed standard under which it is soldB.-In the case of food or drink:* If any substance or substances has or have been mixed with it as to reduce or lower or injuriously affect its quality of strength* If any inferior or cheaper substance or substances have been substituted wholly or in part for the article*If any valuable constituent of the article has been wholly or is part abstracted* If it be an imitation of or be sold under the name of another article* If it consists wholly or in part of a diseased or decomposed, or putrid or rotten, animal or vegetable substance, whether manufactured or not, or in the case of milk, if it is the produce of a diseased animal* If it be colored, or coated, or polished, or powdered, whereby damage is concealed, or it is made to appear better than it really is, or of greater value"―Scientific American, 7 Jan 1882[5]It took 27 years to adopt the 1906 statute, during which time the public was made aware of many problems with foods and drugs in the U.S. Muckraking journalists, such as Samuel Hopkins Adams, targeted the patent medicine industry with its high-alcoholic content patent medicines, soothing syrups for infants with opium derivatives, and "red clauses" in newspaper contracts providing that patent medicine ads (upon which most newspapers of the time were dependent) would be withdrawn if the paper expressed support for food and drug regulatory legislation.
The Chief Chemist of the Bureau of Chemistry, Dr. Harvey Washington Wiley, captured the country's attention with his hygienic table studies, which began with a modest Congressional appropriation in 1902.
Wiley recruited young men to eat all their meals at a common table as he added increased "doses" of preservatives including borax, benzoate, formaldehyde, sulfites, and salicylates.
The table trials captured the nation's fancy and were soon dubbed "The Poison Squad" by newspapers covering the story.
The men soon adopted the motto "Only the Brave dare eat the fare" and at times the publicity given to the trials became a burden.
The 1906 statute regulated food and drugs moving in interstate commerce and forbade the manufacture, sale, or transportation of poisonous patent medicines.