This Day in History, 1960: The Pill
Forty-five years ago today, on May 9, 1960, the United States Food and Drug Administration approved sale of female oral contraceptives, commonly known as "The Pill." Specifically, the FDA approved the contraceptive called Envoid. The pills had to be taken daily for 20 days out of every month. A month's supply cost $10.80.
In a newspaper article from the next day's Seattle Post-Intelligencer, an FDA official was quoted as saying the following: “Approval was based on the question of safety .... When the data convinced our experts that the drug meets the requirements of the new drug provisions our own ideas of morality had nothing to do with the case.” (Cf. http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=1280)
The Pill is often credited as being one of the major causes behind the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
In a newspaper article from the next day's Seattle Post-Intelligencer, an FDA official was quoted as saying the following: “Approval was based on the question of safety .... When the data convinced our experts that the drug meets the requirements of the new drug provisions our own ideas of morality had nothing to do with the case.” (Cf. http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=1280)
The Pill is often credited as being one of the major causes behind the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
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