Preview

The Jungle: The Pure Food And Drug Act

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
138 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Jungle: The Pure Food And Drug Act
The Pure Food and Drug Act was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt on June 30, 1906, the same day as the Meat Inspection Act. The act was designed to prevent the adulteration and mislabeling of foods and pharmaceuticals. This was a direct result of the scandals of the unsanitary methods used by the food industry that was revealed in ‘The Jungle’ written by Upton Sinclair. The act hoped to protect the public from unsafe food, deceptive claims of of a drug/medicine made, and to respond to the public outcry against the unhygienic and unsanitary processing methods. As a result, the act prevented the misrepresentation of medicine and drugs, it gave credibility to the Square Deal domestic policy of President Roosevelt, it gave credence to the
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    Sinclair and Dante: Packingtown, Chicago and the Nine Circles of Hell
    • 2573 Words
    • 11 Pages

    Sinclair and Dante: Packingtown, Chicago and the Nine Circles of Hell

    When thinking of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, many immediately picture the grotesque meat that was being packaged and sent out to the families all over the state and country. That is because of the paragraph about the meats, where Sinclair writes of the spoiled meat used as sausage; the many chemicals used to change color, flavor, and odor; and removing the bone from bad smoked hams, where a white-hot iron was placed instead. The bad meats were sold under false pretenses, and most of the time it worked. Boneless hams were odds and ends of pork, California hams were shoulders and knuckle joints, and skinned hams were made from old hogs (142). That passage so angered President Roosevelt that he had the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act passed, which had harsher laws regarding the meats that could be used. “‘I aimed at the public’s heart,’ said Sinclair, ‘and by accident I hit in the stomach’” (McCage). He said that because he was instead hoping to expose the poor working conditions and hopefully promote socialism. The workers in Packingtown were given very low wages; not even eighteen cents an hour (Sinclair 44)! They were treated very poorly and were given no sympathy for sickness or death. For example, Ona was dislike by her forelady after asking for a holiday to get married (112). Although it was not allowed to happen, bosses would blacklist workers, keeping them from ever getting a job (208). The working…

    • 2573 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Summary: The Uniform Controlled Substances Act
    • 137 Words
    • 1 Page

    Summary: The Uniform Controlled Substances Act

    The Uniform Controlled Substances Act was drafted by the United States Department of Justice in 1969. The Uniform Controlled Substances Act brings together a number of laws regulating the manufacture and distribution of any narcotics. All controlled substances are placed in five different schedules, based on medicinal values, harmfulness and potential for abuse or addiction. Narcotics can be refer to as opium and have semi-synthetic substitutes such as; heroin, oxycontin, vicodin, codeine, morphine and fentanyl. Narcotics “opioids” medical uses are prescribed by doctors to treat pain, suppress cough, cure diarrhea and help as a sleep aid. Other manufacture and distribution drugs are stimulants, depressants, hallucinogens, anabolic steroids…

    • 137 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Review Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
    • 242 Words
    • 1 Page

    Review Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    The Book “The Jungle” was written by Upton Sinclair, it explained the critical conditions of meat packing plants. It was a fictional story used to open the eyes of the readers that ate the contaminated meat. Readers then became concerned with the sanitation and health troubles that they may be facing and that they will face. They then began to attack Theodore Roosevelt with letters, full of their concerns with the meat they consumed. Due to the public’s reaction to The Jungle Roosevelt then sent a social worker and a labor commissioner to visit the meat packing plants. After the book, The Jungle, was written and printed, Theodore Roosevelt was highly disturbed by what he had read, he then called up Congress to create a law beginning “The Pure…

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Summary Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Summary Of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    The factories were extremely unsanitary, there were numerous injuries, and dangerous working conditions. Sinclair depicts the gruesome aspects of factory labor, such as human limbs getting caught in the machines and still being packaged along with the other meat. "The Jungle" changed the way food is distributed now, after the novel was published the FDA (food and drug administration) was established to inspect food quality.…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Analyzing Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Analyzing Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair can be considered one of the most influential novels written at the beginning of the 20th century. Though largely known as the book that resulted in the creation of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act, The Jungle illustrated the harsh working conditions and ruthless competition that plagued the meat-packing plants in Chicago. Sinclair’s original intention for writing the book was to point out the flaws of capitalism, the greed that plagued society, and the poor imprisoned wage-slaves that struggled with starvation, disease, and the purpose behind their lives.…

    • 907 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Dr. Harvey Analysis
    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Dr. Harvey Analysis

    Historians debate as to what the motives were of Dr. Harvey in campaigning for the 1906 laws and what purpose of the Pure Food and Drug Act was. Hunter Dupree stated that Wiley’s motives weren't to act out of pure selflessness, and loyalty to the public. Wiley pushed for reforms in the food and drug regulation via his adulteration of foods to save his Division of Chemistry, which Wiley thought was going to come to an end due to the large government agencies that were hiring their own private chemists (9, 277). Richard Hofstadter thought that the act was an example of the shift from the concern of the producer, to the concern of the consumer. Robert Wiebe saw the act as an example of experiment in bureaucratic reform. Conflict also arose about…

    • 816 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Meat Inspection By Gabriel Kolko Analysis
    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Meat Inspection By Gabriel Kolko Analysis

    Charles P. Neill, an economist, and James B. Reynolds, a lawyer, both never previously exposed to the meat slaughtering houses, were assigned by President Roosevelt in hopes of exonerating the meat packing industry and their practices. Unfortunately, their report confirmed Sinclair’s conclusions that conditions were yet horrible and unsanitary in deed. This influenced President Roosevelt to support regulation for the meat packing industry, leading the United States Department of Agriculture to routinely inspect meat packing houses and their procedures. The end result was the amending of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 requiring mandatory inspections of livestock before and after slaughter and a standard on the sanitary conditions of their housing. The act ensured that good meat and healthy procedures were used by the meat packing industry before human consumption, changing food safety legislation since. The next battle was over who was to pay for such law inspection and their fees with government deciding to cover the cost. This amended law would cost three million dollars to implement compared to the estimated eight hundred thousand thought by legislators, thus allowing the government more control of inspections and regulations within the meat packing industry. Even though…

    • 1120 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Why Is Theodore Roosevelt Important
    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Why Is Theodore Roosevelt Important

    The jungle talked about Armour & Co. The company in which employees would handle the meat in unsanitary conditions. Roosevelt then took action and passed the Meat Inspection Act in 1906.(John D Moore) The Act, included inspection requirements, including seeing animals before slaughter, separating diseased animals from healthy ones, and sanitary inspections. Roosevelt also signed the Pure Food and Drug Act, putting a similar inspection and safety requirements on other foods and…

    • 520 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pure Food And Drug Act Of 1906
    • 105 Words
    • 1 Page

    Pure Food And Drug Act Of 1906

    The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 were both widely accredited to a book called 'The Jungle' that was written by the Progressive author Upton Sinclair. Upton Sinclair revealed the unhygienic and unsanitary methods used by the food industry and a scandal emerged about the quality and purity of food sold to the U.S. public. The Jungle was published in 1906 and became an international best seller. Upton Sinclair exposed Chicago's meatpacking industry telling lurid tales of diseased meat, of dead rats and the poison that killed them being thrown into the processing vats to make…

    • 105 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Differences Between 1870 And 1920's
    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Differences Between 1870 And 1920's

    “There would be meat that had tumbled on the floor, in the dirt and sawdust, where the workers had tramped and spit uncounted billions of consumption germs.” (Sinclair, The Jungle) The book became wildly popular with people of the middle class and elsewhere, people saw their food as tainted and with excerpts of the book in support, adulterated. Eventually the president even read it, and the people pushed for…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Role Of Socialism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle
    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The Role Of Socialism In Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

    The ingredients were full of lies and sold without considering the public health. Within weeks of the novel’ s publication, the sale of meat dropped intensely and this led to the passage of the 1906 Food and Drug Act. However, Upton Sinclair main focus was the conflicts of socialism versus capitalism. “To Jurgis the packers had been equivalent to fate; Ostrinski showed him that they were the Beef Trust.” (384) In fact, throughout the novel, Jurgis and his family is slowly getting apart cause of corrupted economic and social system that America has. Every incident in the novel represents a specific disappointment of capitalism and shows that working class is victim to “the whim of every bit as brutal and unscrupulous as the old-time slave drivers."(126) The Jungle represents the era of the 20th century when the US economic system was rapidly growing and millions of immigrants were moving to America to live the American dream. What most of the immigrants found was instead low paying jobs, horrible working conditions, and the realization that the American dream was not meant to be for…

    • 713 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Upton Sinclair's Epic Movement
    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The Upton Sinclair's Epic Movement

    In Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, he mentions how repulsive the conditions are that the food Americans eat is prepared, therefore, the Food and Drug Safety Act and the Meat-Inspection Act were created. These acts are both still in place today, subsequently, showing the lasting impact Sinclair’s novel had. Sinclair was definitely revolutionary and made big changes that still apply today.…

    • 986 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Harrison Act 1914
    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Harrison Act 1914

    During this same time period, the United States started to take notice in the favor of prohibition of all “moral evils,” particularly drugs and alcohol. New York Representative Francis B. Harrison was particularly moved by both the Shanghai Commission and the reformists in the Progressive movement who wanted to eradicate drugs, he proposed a two measure system to prohibit the introduction and nonmedical use of drugs as well as regulate the production of drugs in the United States. This became known as the Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914.…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    The Square Deal
    • 283 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Square Deal

    Legislation was passed which specified that meat had to be processed safely with proper sanitation, giving the advantage to large packing houses and undercutting small local operations. Foodstuffs and drugs could no longer be mislabeled, nor could consumers be deliberately misled. Roosevelt also fought strongly for land conservation, and safeguarded millions of hectares of wilderness from commercial…

    • 283 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Health Care Timeline
    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Health Care Timeline

    |1906 |The Food and Drug Act was signed by President Roosevelt, and prohibits misbranded and |…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics