Montana labor news., 1933-12-28
SUMMARY OF H
NEW FOOD AND
DRUG BILL
S. 1914

Dc tJt
The aim of the present food and
drugs act is to protect public health
and to prevent deception of consumers.
Twenty-seven years of enforcement
have revealed many weaknesses in the
law which defeat full accomplishment
of its purpose. The attached bill is
intended to plug these loopholes and
to make the statute a more effective
instrument against modern abuses.
1t preserves all the worthy features
of the present law and contains in
addition the following new features:
1. Jurisdiction over false advertis-
ing. Many foods and drugs bear no
false statements on their packages
but their advertising is blatantly de-
ceptive. Legal actions under the pre-
sent law against false labels result
merely in correcting the label while
continued deception of may
be accomplished by advertising the
false claims formerly made on the
labels.
2. Inclusion of cosmetics. The
health of many persons is impaired
by poisonous cosmetics, and false la
bells and advertising are frequently
employed for these products. The
present law has no jurisdiction oven
cosmetics. This bill will correct these
evils.
3. Better control Of poisonous foods
The present law contains no provision
against poisons in foods unless they
are added. This bill prohibits the sale
of dangerous foods regardless of
whether the hazard is caused by added
poisons or otherwise. Under the pre-
sent law the testimony of expert toxi-
cologists must be introduced in every
case to show the quantity of added
poison in the food may be harmful to
health. The bill authorizes the Secre-
tary to acquire expert advice and then
to fix a safe tolerance for added poi
sons.
A.. Authorization to establish defini-
tions and standards for food. The
present law authorizes the establish
ment, in the limited field of canned
foods only, of one standard of quality
for each generic group of canned
food. This bill authorizes the estab-
lishment of standards of identity and
definations of quality for all foods.
5. Permits may be required for the
manufacture of food that may be in
furious and against which the public
can not be effectively protected by
other provisions of the bill. Some
foods are susceptible of dangerous
contamination in unsanitary factories.
The detection of such contamination by
examination of samples from inter-
state shipments, the only procedure
authorized by the present law, is Of
ten difficult or impossible. Under
this bill permits may be required for
the interstate shipment of such foods
and permits would not be given unless
warranted by sanitary conditions in
the factories.
6. Provisions made for more ade-
quate control of false curative claims
for drugs. Many persons are influ-
enced by false curative claims for
drugs to postoape or discontinue ra-
tional treatment of serious diseases.
Frequently the disease is thus permit
ted to progress and illness is protrac-
ted or untimely death follows. As
stated in ~, there is under the pre-
sent law no control of false curative
claims in advertising. Even in estab-
fishing a case against such claims in
labelling which, unlike advertising, is
subject to the present law, the gov
eminent must show not only that the
claims are false but also that the man.
ufacturer knows they are false. Pub
lie protection against this evil is
therefore inadequate because proof of
a manufacturers actual state of mind
is extremely difficult to establish.
The new bill prohibits false curative
claims in both labels and advertising.
The government would not be requir-
ed to show that the manufacturer
knows they are false.
z. Fully informative labelling of
foods and drugs required. The
present law prohibits false labelling
but does not require the manufacturer
to state the whole truth as to what
his product is. This bill requires
foods to be labeled with their COM
mon anne and drugs to be labeled
with the common names of each
therapeutic or physiologically active
ingredient. 1t is an expression of the
right of the consumer to know what
he is eating and what he is taking for
his ills.
8. More adequate penalties. PEN
alties in the present law are very mild.
They may be regarded by some I'M
scrupulous firms as license fees for
the conduct of a lucrative Legitimate
business. Heavier penalties in the bill
and authorization to stop violations by
injunction proceedings should have a
deterrent effect on those manufactur-
ers who are disposed to risk viola
tions for monetary gain.