The 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act was enacted to address fraudulent cures; what was its main result?

• A. Why: many ineffective cure-alls being sold with fraudulent claims; Result: prohibited adulteration and misbranding; forced many meds off market
• B. It created the FDA
• C. It required clinical trials
• D. It regulated medical devices

Answer: (A)

This question focuses on how the 1906 Pure Food and Drugs Act tackled fraudulent cures by tightening controls on what could be sold and how products were labeled. The main result was to prohibit adulteration and misbranding of foods and drugs, giving the government authority to remove or prevent sale of medicines with false or dangerous claims. This shift targeted the spread of ineffective cure-alls and dangerous ingredients, which is why it had a broad market impact—many products were forced off the market or reformulated to meet labeling and purity standards.

It’s worth noting that this act did not create the FDA as an agency at that time, nor did it require clinical trials for drugs, and it did not regulate medical devices. Those regulatory frameworks developed later, after further federal laws were enacted.