La Follette–Bulwinkle Act

Long title	An Act to impose additional duties upon the United States Public Health Service in connection with the investigation and control of the venereal diseases.
Nicknames	Venereal Diseases Control and Prevention Act of 1938
Enacted by	the 75th United States Congress
Effective	May 24, 1938
Citations
Public law	Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law (United States) 75–540
Statutes at Large	52 Stat. 439
Codification
Acts amended	Chamberlain–Kahn Act
Titles amended	42 U.S.C.: Public Health and Social Welfare
U.S.C. sections created	42 U.S.C. ch. 1, subch. I §§ 25a-25e
Legislative history
Introduced in the Senate as S. 3290 by Robert M. La Follette Jr. (R–WI) on March 7, 1938 Committee consideration by Senate Commerce, House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Passed the Senate on March 31, 1938 (Passed) Passed the House on May 16, 1938 (Passed) with amendment Senate agreed to House amendment on May 17, 1938 (Agreed) Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on May 24, 1938

La Follette–Bulwinkle Act or Venereal Diseases Control and Prevention Act of 1938 sanctioned federal assistance to U.S. states establishing preventive healthcare for venereal diseases. The United States federal statute commissioned the United States Public Health Service for demonstrations, investigations, and studies as related to the control, prevention, and treatment of opportunistic infections. The public law amended the Army Appropriations Act of 1918 appending the judicial context which created the Division of Venereal Diseases within the Bureau of the Public Health Service.

Passage

The bill was introduced into the U.S. Senate by Robert M. La Follette Jr. of Wisconsin and supported in the House by Alfred L. Bulwinkle of North Carolina. The S. 3290 legislation was passed during the 75th United States Congressional session and enacted into law by the 32nd President of the United States Franklin Roosevelt on May 24, 1938.

Sections of the Act

The Title 42 Section 25 codified law was penned as five sections establishing federal rulings for the Public Health Service enforcement to control and eradicate venereal diseases in the United States as determined by the Surgeon General of the United States.

42 U.S.C. § 25a ~ Assistance to U.S. states

42 U.S.C. § 25b ~ Basis and determination of annual allotments

42 U.S.C. § 25c ~ Quarterly allotments

42 U.S.C. § 25d ~ Prescribe the rules and regulations

42 U.S.C. § 25e ~ Provisions not to limit or supersede existing functions

Approval of Wonder Drug

After the discovery of Penicillium at London's St. Mary's Hospital in 1928, the United States Congress appealed for the antibacterial discovery seeking to diminish the peril of bacterial infection among sexually exploratory populaces.^[1]

The 79th United States Congress passed the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act Penicillin Amendment on July 6, 1945.^[2] The United States public law required the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to certify and test penicillin samplings validating the effectiveness, potency, purification, and safety of the antibiotic drugs.

Communicable Diseases & Public Health Service Act

The 1960s sexual revolution movement prompt the United States Congress to draft amendments for the Public Health Service Act authorizing control, prevention, and vaccination assistance for communicable diseases. The United States statutes were enacted into law by the 37th President of the United States Richard Nixon and the 38th President of the United States Gerald Ford.

Communicable Diseases Legislative Policies

• Communicable Disease Control Amendments of 1970^[3]
• Communicable Disease Control Amendments of 1972^[4]
• Disease Control Amendments of 1976^[5][6]

In popular culture

Films such as The Road to Ruin (1934) had plot elements such as this positive Wassermann test for syphilis.

By 1914, American exploitation films were produced promoting awareness about hygiene and venereal disease.

Damaged Goods (1914)

Is Your Daughter Safe? (1927)

Damaged Lives (1933)

The Road to Ruin (1934)

Sex Madness (1938)

Sex Hygiene (1942)

To the People of the United States (1943)

Mom and Dad (1945)

See also

19th & 20th Century Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Organizations

19th & 20th Century Medicinal Treatments

Opportunistic Infectious Diseases

References

External links

• Parascandola, Ph.D, John (March–April 1996). "VD at the Movies: PHS Films of the 1930s and 1940s". U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. PHS Chronicles – Public Health Reports. 111 (2): 173–175. PMC 1381727. PMID 8606918.
• Roosevelt, Franklin D. (December 24, 1936). A Letter to the National Conference on Venereal Disease Control. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service. pp. 619–620 – via Internet Archive.
• Roosevelt, Franklin D. (July 15, 1938). A Call for a Coordinated National Health Program. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Service. pp. 459–462 – via Internet Archive.
• Parran, Thomas (1937). Shadow on the Land: Syphilis. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock. pp. 1–309. ASIN B00085AB5G. OCLC 587745.
• Brandt, Allan M. (1987). No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States Since 1880. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 1–304. ISBN 9780195042375. OCLC 925216287.
• "Review of Venereal Disease Prevention and Control Program" (PDF). U.S. GAO ~ HRD-78-150. U.S. Government Accountability Office. September 5, 1978.
• "Shadow on the Land": Thomas Parran and the New Deal" (PDF). Program in History & Philosophy of Science. Stanford University. March 26, 2004. pp. 1–39.
• "'Thanks to Penicillin...He Will Come Home!' – The Challenge of Mass Production" (PDF). NationalWW2Museum.org. The National WWII Museum.
• "Venereal Disease – Visual Culture and Public Health Posters". National Institutes of Health – U.S. National Library of Medicine. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.