The
US Food and Drug Administration started regulating the labeling of food, beverages, and medicines after the passage of the 1906
Pure Food and Drug Act, and added food coloring and cosmetics with the 1938
Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. They have just released a new website, the
FDA Notices of Judgment Collection, 1906-1963, containing data from thousands of cases of mislabeled or misadvertised products and drugs, available in multiple forms (text, PDF, metadata XML, .TIF image, etc.), with searchable archives. Poking around in the data will yield information on cases ranging from
misbranding methamphetamine tablets, to quack
"Film-O-Sonic" devices, to
bacteria-laden unproven abortifacients sold over the counter, to
purported "4-way" cures for baldness, to
hunks of radium sold for putting in your drinking water to "stimulate the sex organs" (judged against for stating an unproven use, not for actual danger of product). Organized by
the FDA's history office, the new database is a fascinating resource for historians, public safety advocates, researchers, and librarians.
posted by Asparagirl
on Apr 6, 2009 -
28 comments
The Library Of Unified Information Sources (LOUIS) is a beta-release project of the
previously mentioned Sunlight Foundation, the goal of which is "to create a comprehensive, completely indexed and cross-referenced depository of federal documents from the executive and legislative branches of government." LOUIS currently contains searchable full text documents of Congressional Reports, the Congressional Record, Congressional Hearings, Presidential Documents, the Federal Register, GAO Reports and Bills & Resolutions, going back to 2001. Other interesting Sunlight Foundation projects include
Visualizing Earmarks,
3 (non-satirical) Modest Proposals,
The Congressional Family Business Project, and
Congresspedia.
posted by cog_nate
on Jun 20, 2007 -
2 comments
The National Archives recently announced a new phase in the ongoing project called the
Electronic Records Archives (ERA) whose
vision is to catalog and make available online electronic documentation produced by the Federal government (E-mails, Word Documents, etc), which otherwise could disappear entirely or at least be very difficult to locate. Funded with over 300 million and set to debut in 2007 and be complete by 2011 it is a project of
unusual scope and complexities but promises to make government more transparent to researches and the general public.
posted by stbalbach
on Sep 10, 2005 -
5 comments
