Overview of the FDA INTRODUCTION This research presents an o

Environmental health, as a concept, contains elements of both environmental protection and public health, although the scope of environmental health does not encompass the totality of either environmental protection or public health. A society's food supply is a part of its environment, and it is a part of the societal environment which affects public health. Protection of a society's food supply, thus, is a matter of national welfare. By protecting the food supply, a society attempts to insure that organisms and substances harmful to human life do not reach members of the society through the food chain. In the United States, by the time one sits down to breakfast, a "half a dozen agencies of the federal government have dealt with the food."1 One of these six federal agencies is

1M. C. Cummings, Jr., and D. Wise, Democracy Under Pressure, 7th ed. (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1989), 12.

2 the FDA. This state of affairs, however, was not always the case in the United States.

The Meat Inspection Act and the Food and Drugs Act were both enacted into law in 1906.2 The Meat Inspection Act provides for the federal enforcement of sanitary regulations in meatpacking facilities, and is administered by the Department of Ag

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xic only in cases of extreme deprivation or excessive intake."7 The Public Health Service (PHS) of the FDA has established rules for the handling of food in institutional __________ 6Food and Drug Administration, Food Service Sanitation Manual (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1986), 5. 7K. H. Lewis, and J. E. Campbell, "Recent Developments in the Prevention of Food Borne Diseases," Journal of Milk and Food Technology, 32 (1969): 135. 4environments. Such environments are defined by the FDA as "any place where food is prepared and intended for individual portion service."8 With respect to food, the FDA's responsibilities extend to all establishments which prepare, sell, or serve food for or to the public. With respect to drugs, the agency is responsible for certifying both the safety and the efficacy of drug products, before they are offered for sale or use in the United States. With respect to cosmetics, the FDA must assure that such products are safe, before they are offered for sale in the United States. FDA POWERS In contemporary society, prospects for the health of individuals are . . . determined by public policy, by
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Some common words found in the essay are:
ACTIONS FDA, Foresman Company, Administration FDA, BACKGROUND Environmental, FDA POWERS, Davis Company, Food Technology, Drugs Act, United FDA, KefauverHarris Amendment, public policy, public health, drug administration, food drugs, public respect, food public, food drug, offered sale, offered sale united, sale united, food drugs act, food drug administration, certifying safety, certifying safety efficacy, food service sanitation,
Approximate Word count = 1491
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)