Food and Drug Administration (definition of)

The FDA is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; its function is to regulate and supervise the safety of food, dietary supplements and cosmetics in addition to both over-the-counter and prescription drugs and a wide range of biological and medical products.

The agency dates back to the old U.S. Department of Chemistry of the 19th Century. The FDA itself was signed into law in 1906 by President Theodore Roosevelt in the wake of the exposure of questionable practices by the commercial food industry.

Among other things, the FDA governs the process by which drugs are made available to the public and must approve any treatments or drugs before they reach the market, including those used to treat mesothelioma (including peritoneal mesothelioma and pericardial mesothelioma). The FDA also specifies how certain drugs may be administered (see Mesothelioma Chemotherapy).