Elixir Sulfanilamide: The FDA ActHow a toxic error forced mandatory safety checks

From the show

Rules Written in Blood

Modern pharmaceutical regulations exist because of a catastrophic failure in 1937. A company legally sold a liquid sulfa drug containing toxic diethylene glycol, causing over 100 agonizing deaths. This preventable mass poisoning compelled the government to mandate safety testing for all medications, fundamentally changing public health protections.