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Passage of an act for the relief of sick and disabled seamen, which established a federal network of hospitals for the care of merchant seamen, forerunner of today's U.S. Public Health Service.
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President Lincoln appointed a chemist, Charles M. Wetherill, to serve in the new Department of Agriculture. This was the beginning of the Bureau of Chemistry, forerunner to the Food and Drug Administration.
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Appointment of the first Supervising Surgeon (later called Surgeon General) for the Marine Hospital Service, which had been organized the prior year.
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The federal government opened a one-room laboratory on Staten Island for research on disease, thereby planting the seed that was to grow into the National Institutes of Health.
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Immigration legislation was passed, assigning the Marine Hospital Service the responsibility for medical examination of arriving immigrants.
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President Theodore Roosevelt's first White House Conference urged creation of the Children's Bureau to combat exploitation of children.
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Release of the first Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health.
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The Department of Education Organization Act was signed into law, providing for a separate Department of Education. HEW became the Department of Health and Human Services, officially arriving on May 4, 1980.
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Identification of AIDS. In 1984, the HIV virus was identified by PHS and French scientists. In 1985, a blood test to detect HIV was licensed.
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The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act was passed, authorizing the food label.
