La Follette–Bulwinkle Act Explained

Shorttitle:	La Follette–Bulwinkle Act
Longtitle:	An Act to impose additional duties upon the United States Public Health Service in connection with the investigation and control of the venereal diseases.
Nickname:	Venereal Diseases Control and Prevention Act of 1938
Enacted By:	75th
Effective Date:	May 24, 1938
Acts Amended:	Chamberlain–Kahn Act
Title Amended:	42 U.S.C.: Public Health and Social Welfare
Sections Created:	§§ 25a-25e
Introducedin:	Senate
Introducedby:	Robert M. La Follette Jr. (R–WI)
Introduceddate:	March 7, 1938
Committees:	Senate Commerce, House Interstate and Foreign Commerce
Passedbody1:	Senate
Passeddate1:	March 31, 1938
Passedvote1:	Passed
Passedbody2:	House
Passeddate2:	May 16, 1938
Passedvote2:	Passed
Agreedbody3:	Senate
Agreeddate3:	May 17, 1938
Agreedvote3:	Agreed
Signedpresident:	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Signeddate:	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

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

	Social hygiene movement
	Thomas Parran Jr.
	Tuskegee syphilis experiment
	Venereal Disease Research Laboratory test
	World War II U.S. Military Sex Education

19th & 20th Century Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Organizations

	Hospital for Tropical Diseases
	London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
	Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

19th & 20th Century Medicinal Treatments

	Magic Bullet
	Mercuric Chloride
	Neosalvarsan
	Sulfonamide

Opportunistic Infectious Diseases

	Neisseriaceae
	Pseudomonadota
	Spirochaete
	Treponema pallidum

External links

• VD at the Movies: PHS Films of the 1930s and 1940s . Parascandola, Ph.D . John . March–April 1996 . 173–175 . PHS Chronicles – Public Health Reports . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services . 1381727 . 8606918 . 111. 2.
• Book: Roosevelt, Franklin D. . A Letter to the National Conference on Venereal Disease Control . . December 24, 1936 . Washington, D.C. . National Archives and Records Service . 619–620.
• Book: Roosevelt, Franklin D. . A Call for a Coordinated National Health Program . . July 15, 1938 . Washington, D.C. . National Archives and Records Service . 459–462.
• Book: Parran, Thomas . 1937 . [{{google books|I6I3AAAAIAAJ|plainurl=y}} Shadow on the Land: Syphilis ]. New York . . 1–309 . B00085AB5G . 587745 .
• Book: Brandt, Allan M. . 1987 . [{{google books|JG7Qx5UBNM0C|plainurl=y}} No Magic Bullet: A Social History of Venereal Disease in the United States Since 1880 ]. New York . . 1–304 . 9780195042375 . 925216287 .
• Web site: Review of Venereal Disease Prevention and Control Program . September 5, 1978 . U.S. GAO ~ HRD-78-150 . U.S. Government Accountability Office.
• Web site: Shadow on the Land": Thomas Parran and the New Deal . March 26, 2004 . Program in History & Philosophy of Science . . 1–39.
• Web site: 'Thanks to Penicillin...He Will Come Home!' – The Challenge of Mass Production . NationalWW2Museum.org . The National WWII Museum.
• Web site: 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.

Notes and References

1. The Discovery of Penicillin - New Insights After More Than 75 Years of Clinical Use . Gaynes . Robert . May 2017 . Emerging Infectious Diseases . 23 . 5 . 849–853 . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . 10.3201/eid2305.161556. free .
2. Web site: Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act Penicillin Amendment ~ P.L. 79-139 . July 6, 1945 . 59 Stat. 463 ~ House Bill 3266 . USLaw.Link.
3. Web site: Communicable Disease Control Amendments of 1970 ~ P.L. 91-464 . October 16, 1970 . 84 Stat. 988 ~ Senate Bill 2264 . U.S. Government Printing Office.
4. Web site: Communicable Disease Control Amendments of 1972 ~ P.L. 92-449 . September 30, 1972 . 86 Stat. 748 ~ Senate Bill 3442 . U.S. Government Printing Office.
5. Web site: Disease Control Amendments of 1976 ~ P.L. 94-317 . June 23, 1976 . 90 Stat. 695 ~ Senate Bill 1466 . U.S. Government Printing Office.
6. Web site: S. 1466 ~ Disease Control Amendments of 1976 . April 17, 1975 . P.L. 94-317 ~ 90 Stat. 695 . Congress.gov.