Von Eschenbach: Eyes on the future.

Throughout 2006, FDA will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the passage the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act. The act represented the founding of the modern FDA, which acting commissioner Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD, describes as “the oldest consumer protection agency in the nation.” Looking forward, he says the agency will “create a science-led regulatory agency dedicated to improving and enhancing health . . . based on new opportunities, but grounded in even-greater responsibility.”

The Pure Food and Drugs Act of 1906 passed during the administration of President Teddy Roosevelt. However, FDA's actual origins go back even further—to a single chemist in the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1862. Since that time, FDA has grown to a staff of more than 9000 employees with a budget of nearly $1.9 billion. One-third of the agency's staff works outside of Washington, DC, at more than 150 field offices and laboratories. Agency investigators and inspectors visit more than 16,000 facilities a year, and work with state governments to help increase the number of facilities reviewed and evaluated.