OTHER SOURCES OF INFORMATION

U. S. Government Films for Public Educational Use. Bulletin 1955, No. 1.
State Accreditation of High Schools. Bulletin 1955, No. 5.

Statistics of Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, Year Ending June 30, 1954. Bulletin 1955, No. 8.

Summaries of Studies in Agricultural Education, Supp. No. 8. Vocational Division Bulletin No. 256.

Statistical Summary, 1951-52. Chapter 1, Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, 1950-52.

Statistics of State School Systems, 1951-52. Chapter 2, Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, 1950-52.

Statistics of City School Systems, 1951-52. Chapter 3, Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, 1950-52.

Statistics of Higher Education, 1951-52. Chapter 4, Section II, Biennial Survey of Education in the United States, 1950-52.

Federal Government and States. Part 1, Education Directory, 1954-55.
Counties and Cities. Part 2, Education Directory, 1954–55.

Higher Education. Part 3, Education Directory, 1954–55.

Education Associations. Part 4, Education Directory, 1954-55.

Resident, Extension, and Adult Education Enrollment in Institutions of Higher Education, November 1953. Circular No. 414.

Earned Degrees Conferred by Higher Education Institutions, 1953-54. Circular No. 418.

Fall Enrollment in Higher Educational Institutions, 1954. Circular No. 419. Engineering Enrollment and Degrees, 1954. Circular No. 421.

Current Expenditures per Pupil in Public-School Systems: Large Cities, 195354. Circular No. 436.

Current Expenditures per Pupil in Public-School Systems: Small and MediumSized Cities, 1953-54. Circular No. 438.

Statistics of Public Elementary and Secondary Education of Negroes in the Southern States, 1951-52. Circular No. 444.

Salaries and Other Characteristics of Beginning Rural School Teachers, 1953-54. Circular No. 446.

Statistics of Negro Colleges and Universities, 1951-52 and Fall of 1954. Circular No. 448.

Public-School Finance Programs of the United States. Misc. No. 22.

The State and Education-The Structure and Control of Public Education at the State Level. Misc. No. 23.

Digest of Annual Reports of State Boards for Vocational Education to the Office of Education, Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1954.

Fourth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Education Concerning the Administration of Public Laws 874 and 815, June 30, 1954.

Education in the United States of America. Special Series No. 3.

School Facilities Survey-Projected Plans for Meeting School Plant Needs. HIGHER EDUCATION (9 issues-September 1954-May 1955, inclusive).

SCHOOL LIFE (9 issues-October 1954-June 1955, inclusive).

Table 1-Grants to States: Office of Education, fiscal year 1955 *

On a checks-issued basis. Does not necessarily agree with allotments or expenditures for a given fiscal year. Does not include $6,725,000 paid to Housing and Home Finance.

Does not include $319,716 paid to Air Force, $2,363,051 to Army, $13,532 to Commerce, $5,380 to Interior, $676,161 to Navy, and $13,326 to Veterans' Administration.

Food and Drug
Administration

THIS REPORT records the activities of the Food and Drug Administration to enforce the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and four less comprehensive related acts, in the fiscal year 1955. The enforcement staff averaged 800 for the year, with an appropriation of $5,100,000, and the certification staff, supported by industry fees, was 186.

The foods, drugs, devices, and cosmetics regulated by these statutes have an annual commercial value of around $60 billion for domestic shipments, and $3 billion for foreign items offered for import. Many of the products involved are used daily in every home in the country. Three important trends continued to affect the efficiency of lawenforcement operations:

(1) Growth of population and the volume of goods produced by the food, drug, and cosmetic industries.

(2) Growing use of advanced technological processes and new ingredients.

(3) A continuing shift in consumer buying to factory-processed goods instead of those prepared in the home or local pharmacy.

With reduced funds in recent years, enforcement time had to be reapportioned to continue major attention to those types of violations that would most adversely affect the public. A project sampling procedure was followed to check on compliance as a whole, and then regulatory activities were directed to careless or deliberate violations. Available facilities have been used to assist the industries to improve. operations. Industry groups have cooperated in these programs.

In his 1955 State of the Union message, the President called for "better consumer protection under our existing pure food and drug laws." Congress added $384,000 to FDA's appropriation for next

year. A recruitment program in the latter part of the current fiscal year succeeded in locating candidates to fill the new positions thus made possible. These are the first new inspectors or chemists to be appointed since the drastic cut in 1953.

Seeking means to better protect the health and well-being of the millions of American consumers of foods, drugs, and cosmetics, the Secretary asked Congress for funds to have the Food and Drug Administration's activities reviewed by a representative citizens' advisory group. Appropriations were made in July 1954 and a 14-member committee appointed about the middle of the fiscal year.

The committee included representatives of consumers, industry, labor, educational institutions, medicine, law, and the judiciary. The first meeting with the Secretary was on February 3, 1955, and its report was filed on June 30, 1955. This was later published as House Document 227 (84th Congress, 1st Session). The report states that the Food and Drug Administration is not presently staffed or equipped to render the degree of consumer protection which the committee believes Congress intended the public should have. It recommends a three to fourfold expansion of the Administration within 5 to 10 years, and the application of more effective techniques to broaden consumer protection. The committee's findings will be very helpful in the future administration of the act.

Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act

DISASTER AND_DEFENSE ACTIVITIES

In the aftermath of a disaster, the primary obligation of food and drug officials is to supervise the salvage of damaged goods and prevent the use of those that would endanger the public. The most serious such catastrophe in the fiscal year, from the standpoint of volume of foods affected, was hurricane "Carol," which caused a $5 million loss of commercially stored food in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. At Providence the products dumped included 110 carloads of fresh fruits and vegetables, 500,000 cases of canned food, and 550,000 pounds of flour that had been polluted by flood waters. Other large lots were salvaged and returned to food channels after their safety was checked.

Flood damage in Chicago, southern Colorado, and along the Ohio River also required supervision of the disposal of damaged foods, principally by local and State officials, since large wholesale stocks— primarily a Federal responsibility-were not seriously involved.

Knowledge of the hazards that may exist in the consumption of foods exposed to atomic explosion must be developed before adequate plans can be formulated for the sorting of foods exposed and the disposal of those that might injure the user.

In May 1955, tests of the effects of atomic explosion on foodstuffs were conducted in cooperation with the Federal Civil Defense Administration. Participating with the Food and Drug Administration were the Meat Inspection Service and Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture; the National Canners Association; the National Association of Frozen Food Packers; and the American Meat Institute Foundation. About 60 varieties of food staples in representative types of packaging were exposed at varying distances from the explosion. The participating groups are testing the 15 tons of food exposed, not only for immediate effects, but also for longrange toxicity and nutrition changes.

A report on similar tests of drugs previously conducted was released in January 1955. It showed that of the 42 important common drug items exposed, only 2 (insulin and vitamin B12) were reduced in potency.

Another FDA testing program for radioactivity was conducted in connection with "Operation Wigwam," an undersea atomic test several hundred miles off the California-Mexico Coast. Nearly 50 million pounds of tuna and other deep-sea fish taken from the exposed area were monitored with Geiger-Mueller meters, and no radioactive fish were encountered.

Late in the fiscal year, FDA began a training program for State and local officials, designed to help equip them to safeguard the food and drug supplies of the Nation in case of enemy attack. This program, under a delegation of authority to the Department from the Federal Civil Defense Administration, is designed to meet the extraordinary needs of food and drug inspection in attack areas. The classes will continue throughout the forthcoming year.

ON THE FOOD FRONT

Potential Health Hazards

Agricultural poisons. Early in 1954, a new investigation began of practices in the spraying of fruits and vegetables during the growing season, and of spray residues on products reaching the market. The results were reassuring in some respects, disquieting in others. On the whole, the residue levels for such pesticides as lead, arsenic, DDT, BHC, and parathion were well within the range of safety.

On the other hand, the rapidly increasing number of pesticides being developed and the greater toxicity of some of these compared with those now in use are matters of concern. If used in agriculture under conditions which leave any residue at all on edible products, the margin of safety will be narrower than has heretofore been considered desirable. Of concern also is that improper use of these highly toxic substances is occasionally encountered.