Virus-Serum-Toxin Act - History

History

The Virus-Serum-Toxin Act was enacted in 1913. During this time, a USDA official stated that the bill was crucial “to protect the farmer and stock raiser from improperly made and prepared serums, toxins, and viruses.” After seven decades, the Act was amended in 1985 to address the effects of advancement, industrialization, and modernization in the field of agriculture. The Food Security Act of 1985 lists the specific amendments: (1) authorize USDA regulate intrastate, as well as interstate, movement of biological products, (2) broaden the Secretary’s authority to issue regulations, (3) enhance enforcement powers, and (4) recognize a congressional view that regulation is “necessary to prevent and eliminate burdens on commerce and to effectively regulate commerce.” In 2002, the VSTA was one out of seven agricultural laws affected by the Homeland Security Act of 2002. This did not cause provisions within the law to change but only shifted certain functions from one department to another. In this case, border and import inspection functions were moved from USDA to the Department of Homeland Security. After the terrorist attacks that took place in America on September 11, 2001, Congress wanted to merge all of the major border inspection activities under the control of one department to make things easier and more efficient. Currently, the DHS manages the physical inspection of imports, but the USDA still has authority over VSTA regulations and policies. The DHS and USDA are required to cooperate with each other for proper regulation and inspection practice.