Protecting America's Health: The Fda, Business, And One Hundred Years Of Regulation

Philip J. Hilts

ISBN 10: 037540466X / ISBN 13: 9780375404665

Edité par Knopf, 2003

A propos de cet article

Emerging out of the era of the robber barons and Theodore Roosevelt's desire to 'civilize capitalism,' the Food and Drug Administration was created to stop the trade in adulterated meats and quack drugs. In the almost one hundred years since, it has evolved from a squad of eleven inspectors dogging dishonest tradesmen into America's most important regulatory agency, keeping tabs on the products of about 95,000 businesses and more than $1 trillion worth of goods annually. This book shows how the agency combats self-serving political and industrial interests and protects Americans from hazardous medicines, medical devices, and foodstuffs while enforcing rigorous scientific standards. Hilts takes us back to the FDA's beginnings, when it confronted businesses that acknowledged no limitations on what could be brought to market or on the claims they could make for a product. With the coming of the FDA, our government, for the first time, was able to force the removal of toxic elixirs from the shelves and to insist on accurate labeling. We see the subsequent fights the FDA waged, and won, for mandatory testing, and against such conservatives asin our own timeRonald Reagan and Newt Gingrich, who tried to curtail regulation. We see how the FDA protected the American consumer from thalidomide and other lethal pharmaceuticals, how it took on the tobacco industry, and how it stumbled in confronting the deadly mysteries of AIDS. And we are given, as well, a litany of extraordinary corporate excesses that the FDA has exposed and successfully battled. Protecting America's Healthshows society adapting to both the burgeoning of science and technology and the ascendancy of the capitalist market. It makes startlingly clear the essential role the FDA has played in maintaining and protecting the quality of lifeand healthto which the American public has long been accustomed.

N° de réf. du vendeur 9780375404665

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Protecting America's Health: The Fda, Business, And One Hundred Years Of Regulation
• Éditeur: Knopf
• Date de parution: 2003
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 037540466X
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780375404665
• Reliure: Hardcover
• État de l'article: New

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

Emerging out of Theodore Roosevelt's desire to civilize capitalism, the Food and Drug Administration was created to stop the trade in adulterated meats and quack drugs. This history of the agency takes readers back to its beginnings, and makes startlingly clear the essential role the FDA has played in maintaining the quality of life and health to which the American public has long been accustomed.

Présentation de l'éditeur

In this history of the Food and Drug Administration, Philip J. Hilts analyzes the century-long, continuing struggle to establish scientific standards as the basis for policymaking on food and drugs. The agency, which emerged out of the era of the robber barons and Theodore Roosevelt's desire to "civilize capitalism" was created to stop the trade in adulterated meats and quack drugs. In addition to highlighting the essential role the FDA plays in making sure that food and drugs are safe and effective, Protecting America's Health shows that FDA regulation, far from stifling innovation-as critics feared-has actually accelerated it. "A genuinely important book, rich in history, accurate in detail, unflinching in analysis" -The New Republic [Hilts] writes with both a historian's attention to dissection and analysis and with the flourish and vividness of an experienced journalist aware of the drama inherent in the story he is telling -New York Times Book Review