Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is an agency in the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It seeks to protect the public health by ensuring the purity and security of foods; the safety and effectiveness of drugs, medical devices, biological products, and radiation-emitting products; and the safety of cosmetics. The FDA oversees the review and approval of new medicines and medical devices. It also monitors the safety of dietary supplements, though it does not review and approve the supplements before they are sold.
The FDA helps to ensure that people receive accurate information about the foods and drugs that they use. The agency calls for the truthful description of product benefits and risks and for safety and honesty in packaging. The FDA designed the “nutrition facts” panel that appears on packaged foods in the United States.
The FDA originated in the late 1800’s as the Division of Chemistry (later called the Bureau of Chemistry). The agency adopted its present name in 1930. Laws administered by the agency include the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938, the Drug Amendments of 1962, the Medical Devices Amendments of 1976, and the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010.
In the 1990’s, the FDA accelerated its review and approval processes for new drugs. In the years that followed, a number of widely used drugs were withdrawn from the market for safety reasons. Many people argued that in speeding up its review process the FDA failed to protect the public from unsafe drugs. In 2005, a new Drug Safety Oversight Board was established within the FDA. The board is made up of representatives from the FDA and from other federal agencies concerned with health. The Drug Safety Oversight Board provides a means for discussing and making recommendations about drug safety. The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2010 gave the FDA increased authority to inspect food processing facilities more often, to enforce stricter standards, and to recall contaminated foods.
See also Pure food and drug laws.
