Evening star., 1939-10-30
New Food-Drug Law
Detailed al Session
OF Chemists
AII-Round Health
improvement Is Aim,
Dr.. Dunbar ExpIoins

What the American Government
does to protect its people against
the ravages of Illicit food, drugs and
cosmetics under the new law was
described today by DR. Paul B.
Dunbar assistant chief Of the Food
and Drug Administration of the
Department of Agriculture, who ad
dressed the 55th annual meeting of
the Association Of Agricultural
Chemists IN the ballroom OF the
Raleigh Hotel.
Gathered here from every State
in the union, the chemists heard the
10th and final Wiley Memorial ad-
dress. part of series of discussions
that will be bound in book form and
distributed as tribute to the men,
ory of the late DR.. Harvey Wiley,
one of the first crusaders for pure
foods and drugs.
In the course of his remarks. DR..
Dunbar paid tribute to the manu-
facturers Of America who work in
cooperation with his administration
for the protection of~human life.
Still, he listed few problems which
await solution.
Dr.. Dunbar recommended better
methods for examining glandular
preparations, for evaluating devices
and for estimating the degree of
deCeptlveness in containers of many
types.
Designed to Eradicate Evils.
While the general public is not
familiar with the workings Of the
new Food and Drug Act, which went
into effect last June 25, DR.. Dunbar
said it is designed to eradicate many
evils prevalent in the past and make
for all-round health improvement.
He said:
This act will unmistakably stand
as a monument to the late Senator
Royal S. Copeland of New York.
who piloted the law through its
turbulent career"
Cosmetics, not hitherto part of the
Food and Drug Act now give the
administration much concern, the
speaker said. though he was careful
to say that the public is being ade-
quately protected. Those manufac-
turers subject to the law, DR.. Dunbar
said, have given wholehearted CO.
operation-for the most part-and
he stated that from 5000 to 5000
letters are received each month at
the Department of Agriculture ask
ing for advice and help. Aside from
these letters. long queues of inter-
ested businessmen and reporters for
trade papers camp on the doorsteps
of the administration each day" the
speaker said, in order to learn what
should and should not be done
under the law. One portion of the
new law which is entirely novel Dr.
Dunbar said is that the administra-
ton has control over what the label
on any container fails to say as
we'll as what it does say.
Personnel Increased.
Because of the intense interest
In the new law the forces employed
to work 1t out have been augmented
by 95 scientific employees. mostly
these are out in the field. the
speaker said. All told, the personnel
of the administration has been in
creased by l26 workers. Putting the
law in forceful operation. Dr.. Dun
bar stated, has been laborious
and time-consuming task" but he
intimated that it is working much
better than had been anticipated.
This he attributed to the whole
hearted cooperation of State Off
Clals, also the interest in the new
law taken by consumers.
Due to certain amendments, the
new law will not become fully
operative until July, 1910, Dr.. Dun
bar reminded his audience, but he
stated that since the short time
the major portion of the act has
been evoked there have been
many criminal prosecutions, some