The New Drug section of the law requires that new drugs must be the subject of 
applications containing information adequate to establish the safety of the drugs for the 
intended uses. Here too, many veterinary preparations are involved. 
In evaluating the safety of certifiable antibiotics andnew drugs intended for veterinary 
use, we take into account, not only the safety to treated animals, but the safety of any 
residues that may occur in the food products derived from the animals. The term ‘‘drug’’ 
as used in the Act includes substances intended to affect the structure or any function of 
the body of man or animal as well as those intended to treat or prevent disease. Hence, 
substances added to feeds as fattening agents or growth promoters are drugs. If they 
place residues in the food products--meat, milk, eggs--they may also be food additives. 
Many of these types of preparations require considerationas food additives as well as new 
drugs or certifiable antibiotics. 
It is, then, the responsibility of the Food and Drug Administration to establish 
regulations under the applicable sections of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act calculated 
to insure the safety of our food supply. This responsibility does have some impact on the 
use of chemicals in agriculture. 
ROLE OF INDUSTRY IN DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF AGRICULTURAL CHEMICALS 
George R. Ferguson’ 
On behalf of the National Agricultural Chemicals Association, I would first like to 
extend the thanks and appreciation of our industry for the opportunity afforded here to 
present some views that might not otherwise be taken into account in the deliberations 
of this symposium. I would also like to state that the writer (speaker) takes full personal 
responsibility for the views presented as I have not limited my remarks to matters of 
established policies of the Association or of my own Company. 
The use of the term ‘‘responsibility of industry’’ in the assigned title is extremely 
broad in scope and perhaps could be construed to cover such subjects as profit margins 
and ‘‘payola’’ as developed in recent Congressional Hearings. Fortunately, these subjects 
are outside the scope of this symposium. Furthermore, our segment of the chemical 
industry is notorious for slim profit margins andhighly competitive practices which have 
resulted in a number of firms going out of the pesticide business in recent years. Trends 
toward increasingly restrictive legislation and regulation at local, State, and Federal 
levels of Government are accelerating this outward movement as more and more 
management groups decide that money can better be invested and the stockholders better 
protected in other types of business. 
Although I will comment only with regardto responsibilities of the chemical industry, 
I cannot help but note that other segments of industry, such as the foodpacking and process - 
ing industry, the farm equipment industry, and perhaps others have a major stake in any 
problem involving agriculture. 
More important is the overall responsibility of agribusiness as a whole. Out of 
some $33 billion of off-farm sales of food and fiber, some $15 billion represents farmer 
purchases of seed, fertilizer, fuel, pesticides, and other farm supplies. The value of 
this food and fiber at the consumer level is estimated at over $90 billion. I submit that 
the industries responsible for upgrading $33 billion of farm products to $90 billion of 
consumer products also have a stake and responsibility in the problems to be discussed 
here. 
1President, Geigy Agricultural Chemicals, and Vice-President, National Agricultural Chemicals Association, 
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