Statement by the President on the 30th Anniversary of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

THIRTY YEARS AGO, on June 25, 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law a great landmark in this Nation's history of consumer protection: the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

That legislation was an initial effort to meet a whole new set of problems as the American marketplace moved from the corner grocery into the age of the supermarket.

It set forth this Government's basic principles for maintaining the quality and integrity of the market in the 20th century, and it directed the agencies of this Government to ensure that these principles would prevail.

These principles have been buttressed over the past 30 years by a series of amendments that have benefited both buyer and merchant-both the American consumer and American business. They have provided:

--for the certification of insulin, penicillin, and other lifesaving antibiotics;

--for setting limits on the usage of pesticides;

--for establishing the safe use of food additives and color additives;

--for assuring that all drugs are safe as well as effective, and for the control of stimulant, depressant, and hallucinogenic drugs.

Meanwhile, there have been long strides in other areas of consumer protection. In the last 3 years, the Congress has enacted major legislation to provide for highway safety, fair packaging, wholesome meat, protection against flammable fabrics, home appliance safety, safe toys, adequate clinical laboratory standards, fire research and safety, truth-in-lending, and the establishment of a National Commission on Product Safety.

We have new Federal guardians of the marketplace: the first Special Assistant to the President for Consumer Affairs, the first Consumer Counsel in the Department of Justice, the first Presidential Committee on Consumer Interests, and, within the last 2 weeks, the new Consumer Protection and Environmental Health Service in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

With all that, however, the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act continues to provide an important basis for expanding the protection that American consumers need to remain the sovereign of the marketplace.

During this week, while we are paying tribute to the historical significance of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, I hope that each of us will pause to consider the genius of the American marketplace, which is the envy of the world. But let us also resolve that our great ability to raise, manufacture, distribute, and sell products to meet every human need be used to enhance the quality of American life for every man, woman, and child-for every American consumer.