Food and Drug Administration Celebrates 100 Years of Service to the Nation

Published: Wed Jan 04 00:00:00 -0500 2006

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will celebrate its 100 th anniversary in 2006. In addition to a nation-wide program of commemorative events being held throughout the year, FDA has launched a special Web page at http://www.fda.gov/centennial. The January-February 2006 issue of FDA's bimonthly publication, FDA Consumer, traces the agency's history from the passage of pure food and drug laws at the turn of the last century to the challenges posed today by cutting-edge sciences such as genomic and proteomics, and new initiatives like "personalized medicine."

FDA dates its origin to June 1906, when President Teddy Roosevelt signed the Food and Drugs Act and entrusted implementation of this law to the Bureau of Chemistry of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Bureau, the oldest U.S. consumer protection office, eventually became the FDA, an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Over the years, FDA has provided Americans with increasingly comprehensive, science-based protections that ensure the highest quality of products essential for health and survival. Today, these products represent almost 25% of all consumer spending and include 80% of the national food supply and all human drugs, vaccines, medical devices, tissues for transplantation, equipment that emits radiation, cosmetics, and animal drugs and food.

The centennial celebrations have the following aims:

• Observe FDA's role -- past, present, and future -- in protecting and promoting the health of the public, both in the United States and world-wide;
• Inspire future efforts to advance science, innovation, and public health through partnerships and alliances with key FDA stakeholders;
• Attract new generations of regulatory scientists; and
• Salute the contributions of FDA employees, alumni, legislators, academicians, industry, consumer groups, and public health leaders to fulfilling FDA's mission.

The following are highlights of the centennial celebrations:

Headquarter events

In the Washington, D.C., area:

• April 18-20 -- Washington, D.C., FDA Science Forum
• June 30 -- Formal ceremony (tentative, location to be announced)
• September or October -- Silver Spring, MD, building dedication and centennial plaque installation at the Federal Research Center at FDA White Oak campus (tentative)

Regional events

• January 4 -- Atlanta, GA, Hartsfield International Airport, unveiling FDA's centennial banner
• January 26 -- Atlanta, GA, forum at the Morehouse School of Medicine on FDA's history of protecting and promoting the public health, healthy lifestyle behaviors, and good nutrition and fitness to combat childhood obesity
• February 3 -- Dallas, TX, forum at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center on FDA's history and future in protecting and promoting the public health and to acknowledge the efforts of FDA employees and stakeholders
• March 22 -- Oakland, CA, forum at the Dellums Federal Building on FDA's history and future
• April 6 -- Jamaica/Queens, NY, forum on FDA's past and future public health mission
• May 16 -- Philadelphia, PA, one-day conference on lessons from the science and regulations of the past, present, and future
• May 31 -- Chicago, IL, forum on FDA's past and future

Additional details of these and other commemorative events will be announced before the scheduled events.

Updated List of Centennial Events

Centennial Message from FDA's Acting Commissioner