Report of Food and Drug Administration

THE campaign to preserve the purity and truthful labeling of foods, drugs, and cosmetics during the wartime disruptions of production, transportation, and storage featured the 1945 fiscal year report of the Food and Drug Administration. Court actions charging violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act increased by 45% over similar actions in the fiscal year 1944. Predistribution testing of penicillin, which was the Food and Drug Administration's responsibility under wartime controls, will continue under the penicillin amendment to the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, passed unanimously by Congress after recommendation by the Federal Security Administrator and endorsement by interested industry and scientific groups. Protection of the public health demands that this antibiotic drug be of standard potency and free of toxic impurities. Review of tests reported by manufacturers, to assure the safety of new drugs before distribution is permitted, is becoming increasingly complex as revolutionary new drugs are developed and ...