Gould Amendment

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Gould Amendment
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Long titleA bill to amend section 8 of an act for preventing the manufacture sale or transportation of adulterated or misbranded or poisonous or deleterious foods drugs medicines and liquors and for regulating traffic therein and for other purposes.
Enacted bythe 62nd United States Congress
EffectiveMarch 3, 1913
Citations
Public law Pub.L. 62–419
Statutes at Large 37  Stat.   732, Chapter 3915
Codification
Acts amended Pure Food and Drug Act
Acts repealed
  • Pure Food and Drug Act (1906)
  • 37 U.S. Stat. 416 (1912) (Sherley Amendment)
  • 37 U.S. Stat. 732 (1913) (Gould Amendment)
  • 41 U.S. Stat. 271 (1919) (Kenyon Amendment)
  • 42 U.S. Stat. 1500 (1923)
  • 44 U.S. Stat. 976-1003 (1927)
  • 46 U.S. Stat. 1019 (1930) (McNary-Mapes Amendment)
  • 48 U.S. Stat. 1204 (1934) (21 U.S.C. §§ 1-15)
U.S.C. sections amendedSection 8
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the Houseas H.R. 22526 by Samuel W. Gould (DME) on March 28, 1912
  • Committee consideration by Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce
  • Passed the House on August 5, 1912 (passed)
  • Passed the Senate on August 5, 1912 (amended and passed)
  • Reported by the joint conference committee on February 28, 1913; agreed to by the Senate on February 28, 1913 (28-23) and by the House on February 28, 1913 (agreed)
  • Signed into law by President William H. Taft on March 3, 1913
Major amendments
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (1938)

The Gould Amendment sponsored by Rep. Samuel W. Gould (D) of Maine, amended the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 by requiring that the contents of any food package had to be “plainly and conspicuously marked on the outside of the package in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count and ingredients

Pure Food and Drug Act

The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 was the first of a series of significant consumer protection laws which was enacted by Congress in the 20th century and led to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration. Its main purpose was to ban foreign and interstate traffic in adulterated or mislabeled food and drug products, and it directed the U.S. Bureau of Chemistry to inspect products and refer offenders to prosecutors. It required that active ingredients be placed on the label of a drug’s packaging and that drugs could not fall below purity levels established by the United States Pharmacopeia or the National Formulary. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair with its graphic and revolting descriptions of unsanitary conditions and unscrupulous practices rampant in the meatpacking industry, was an inspirational piece that kept the public's attention on the important issue of unhygienic meat processing plants that later led to food inspection legislation. Sinclair quipped, "I aimed at the public's heart and by accident I hit it in the stomach," as outraged readers demanded and got the pure food law.


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