Educational Media Reviews Online

This is an outstanding work that richly illustrates the evolution of the roles and authority of an agency that continually questioned its identity. It was conceived as an enforcement agency driven by an overall concern for public health, and eventually morphed into consumer protection agency. Through its development, the Food and Drug Administration conspicuously avoided becoming adversarial with corporate America, though sometimes unsuccessfully. It is this intriguing progression and continual self-examination on the part of the FDA that makes this film fascinating.

This film traces the roots of the FDA to the U.S. Civil War, when poorly canned food frequently led to cases of botulism. With a clear understanding that its primary responsibility lie in food standards, the agency struggled in defining its role in related, but no less crucial, areas such as water sanitation, chemistry, agriculture, disaster response, and infectious disease prevention. The film provides thorough histories of commonplace occurrences such as ingredient lists, honesty in advertising, and testing of adverse health effects of additives and preservatives. Events are revealed against the background of political events, scientific discoveries, tragedies (such as children’s deaths from additives and drugs), and exposés such as Sinclair’s The Jungle. The FDA gained clout and authority due to social pressures as well as political ones. The hallmark of this work is its noting of seemingly minor phenomena, such as the production and sales of cosmetics and “snake oils,” that drastically shaped the FDA. The film also explores controversial issues facing the FDA, such as animal testing, the AIDS epidemic, nutritional supplements, and enrichment.

This is a true work of history. The organization is very sensible and demonstrative. The photographs, clips, excerpts, and interviews all work to give a clear account of the history of the FDA. It is also painstakingly arranged to show the trends, motivations, constraints, and quandaries facing the evolving agency. This is a valuable film on a government agency that was truly born out of principle.