Lobbying Project

-The Food and Drug Administration is the oldest comprehensive consumer protection agency in the U. S. federal government.

-Wallace F. Janssen began writing about FDA as a trade journal editor in 1931.

-Joined in 1951 as assistant to the commissioner for public information and continued to be its information chief until 1966.

-How old the FDA is can be answered two different ways

           - Scientific institution: dates from 1862 when Charles M. -Wetherill started to study sample foods, soils, fertilizers, and other agricultural substances.

-Early FDA scientists became involved in matters of food safety.

-Federal concern for drugs started with the establishment of U.S. customs laboratories to administer the Import Drugs Act of 1848.

-Great Britain's first food law passed in 1860.

-FDA has a huge responsibility: safety of human and animal food products.

-FDA started with a small task, then grew. A small committe of doctors became one of the largest administrations in the U.S. government.

-February 27, 1906: horrible conditions of the meat packing industry was exposed, stirring the public to demand legal protection.

-It wasn’t just the unsanitary conditions, but also the use of poisonous dyes and preservatives.

-On June 30, 1906, Congress passed the Pure Food and Drugs Act as well as the Meat Inspection Act.

-1912 Sherley Amendment was enacted quickly to remedy that omission, but, it also created a standard that was hard to quantify: Prohibited labeling drugs.

-From so many deaths and injuries, the FDA showed gruesome examples of the dangers of untested drugs.

-1973: sulfanilamide had been given safely in tablet and powder form to treat streptococcal infections. Demand to have it in liquid form, but they didn’t do a test on it before they shipped it out to the U.S. This drug hit the market, which killed 107 adults and children.

-In 1955 260 people contracted polio after receiving the polio vaccine.

-The 50s continued to reveal the dangers of food additives. Cancer-causing additives and pesticides used to grow crops became the focus of new recalls and legislation. During this decade, FDA published a list of 200 substances generally recognized as safe (GRAS).

-1960s was known for both legal and illegal drugs.

          - Thalidomide, a sedative and sleep medication caused over 5,000 recognized cases of birth defects and limb deformities in infants born to mothers who took the drug during pregnancy.

-Started to get bans on hazardous toys and other products.

-1977 the ban on saccharin was lifted and replaced with a requirement to include a warning “saccharin has been found to cause cancer in animals” on the label.

-In 1979 the FDA arranged to have 250,000 bottles of potassium iodine delivered to where the nuclear power plant reactor overheated, threatening surrounding areas to be exposed with radiation.

-The scandal of the 1980s was an incident in 1982 involving deaths from cyanide someone injected into Tylenol capsules already on the shelf of a drug store. This is still an unsolved case, and no one knows who did this or why, but seven people died from ingesting the cyanide-laced capsules.

-1990s: packaged foods now required per-serving nutrition labeling, and an easily understood list of most important nutrients.

-The Safe Medical Devices Act was passed in 1990.

-In an effort to discourage marketing cigarettes to young people, the FDA declared cigarettes to be drug delivery devices in 1995. After that nice try, the FDA lost its clout with the tobacco industry in 2000 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that they didn’t have the authority to regulate tobacco as a drug.

-Many issues were addressed in 2004 in the wake of 9/11 and serious reactions to many drugs. Congressional Acts authorized FDA to take more expedient countermeasures in response to chemical, biological and nuclear threats.

 http://www.usrecallnews.com/2008/06/history-of-the-food-and-drug-administration-fda.htmlhttp://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/WhatWeDo/History/default.htm

Who represents me?

Jewell Williams represents me. He is a Democrat. His occupation is a Legislator, meaning he can work to pass, amend, and repeal walls. His standing committee assignments is aging and older adult services, appropriations, children and youth, committee on ethics, rules, and urban affairs. During the 1970s, Jewell Williams led the way petitioning Philadelphia to provide more affordable houses for the poor. He had very little support since the city was already struggling to find solutions for youth violence. That is when he founded the Susquehanna Neighborhood Advisory Counsel, becoming its Executive Director. In 1986, he graduated from the Police Academy, and joined the Temple University Police Department. In 1994, Jewel Williams took the place as Chief of Criminal Operations for the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office. In November 2000, he won his election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to serve the 197th Legislative District. In the 2008-2009 legislative session he proposed to expand Philadelphia’s tourism outreach and increasing funding in order to expand the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which was signed into law. This law lets the city tax hotel rentals up to 1.5 percent, which is deposited and dedicated to save money to improve the convention center. During the time he was in office, he has gained the respect from his colleagues as a true ambassador and coalition builder. As of now, he is serving Deputy Whip of the House of Democratic Caucus. He is also chairman of the Philadelphia Delegation of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and a member of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus. He is the Democratic Ward Leader of the 16th Ward of the Democratic City Committee in Philadelphia, and Vice Chairman of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators Rules Committee. Jewell Williams has received many awards for his community service. He has talked to many people in his community, despite their working statuses, and income rates. He is a father of three children. 

How has my legislator voted on my issue in the past?

http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/RC/Public/rc_view_date.cfm?rc_body=H This is the voting from past elections. http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_bio.cfm?id=263 http://www.pahouse.com/williams/bio.asp http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.pahouse.com/mediacenter/portraits/thumbs/WilliamsTHM.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.pahouse.com/williams/&usg=__pOia9XuWCtqN-cmlXBqTvbkkI-I=&h=195&w=140&sz=12&hl=en&start=0&sig2=-053xljuekH6hO5ibAMUGw&zoom=1&tbnid=IoZDirHMqwl6yM:&tbnh=156&tbnw=112&ei=vG_DTJzeLoWglAea-v0D&prev=/images%3Fq%3Djewell%2Bwilliams%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1142%26bih%3D647%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=477&oei=vG_DTJzeLoWglAea-v0D&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=19&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&tx=45&ty=106