Tea Importation Act of 1897
Long title | An Act to prevent the importation of impure and unwholesome tea. |
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Enacted by | the 54th United States Congress |
Effective | May 1, 1897 |
Citations | |
Public law | 54-358 |
Statutes at Large | 29 Stat. 604 |
Codification | |
Titles amended | 21 U.S.C.: Food and Drugs |
U.S.C. sections created | 21 U.S.C. ch. 2 § 41 et seq. |
Legislative history | |
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Tea Importation Act of 1897 is a United States public law forbidding the import of tea into the United States which has been deemed inferior and substandard due to suspicious levels of fluoride, heavy metals, oxalate, and pesticides. The Act of Congress established a uniform standard of purity and quality while attempting to achieve the optimal health effects of tea and phenolic content in tea.
The 1897 statute superseded the Spurious Tea Importation Act of 1883.[1][2] The S. 3725 legislation was passed by the United States 54th Congressional session and enacted into law by the 24th President of the United States Grover Cleveland on March 2, 1897.
Provisions of the Act
The United States statute was drafted as twelve sections authorizing the Secretary of the Treasury to implement the compulsory law restricting the international commerce of camellia sinensis and adopt federal tea standards.
- 21 U.S.C. § 1 ~ Prohibit the unlawful importation of substandard tea
- 21 U.S.C. § 2 ~ Establishment of a board of experts on tea
- 21 U.S.C. § 3 ~ Establishment of tea purity standards
- 21 U.S.C. § 4 ~ Bonds of exporters, examination of imported tea, and importation at ports without examiners
- 21 U.S.C. § 5 ~ Delivery permits, reexamination, retention of substandard tea
- 21 U.S.C. § 6 ~ Referral of disputes to Board of Tea Appeals to permit delivery, order destruction, or exportation of substandard tea
- 21 U.S.C. § 7 ~ Examiners and examination according to useage of trade
- 21 U.S.C. § 8 ~ Reexaminations including findings by examiner and assistance of experts
- 21 U.S.C. § 9 ~ Reimporting rejected tea and forfeitures for violation of provisions
- 21 U.S.C. § 10 ~ Issuance of regulations
- 21 U.S.C. § 11 ~ Tea on shipboard subject to former 1883 law
- 21 U.S.C. § 12 ~ Repeal of 1883 Act
Amendment and Repeal of 1897 Act
The Tea Importation Act of 1908 amended the 1897 public law permitting the import of tea siftings, tea sweepings, or tea waste for the extraction of caffeine or theine, and other chemical products.[3] The 1897 Act was repealed with the United States 104th Congressional session enactment of the Federal Tea Tasters Repeal Act of 1996.[4][5]
See also
References
- ↑ "Spurious Tea Importation Act of 1883 ~ P.L. 47-64" (PDF). 22 Stat. 451 ~ House Bill 7486. Legis★Works. March 2, 1883.
- ↑ "Spurious Tea Importation Act of 1883 ~ House Bill 7486". P.L. 47-64 ~ 22 Stat. 451. National Archives and Records Administration. March 2, 1883.
- ↑ "Tea Importation Act of 1908 ~ P.L. 60-117" (PDF). 35 Stat. 163 ~ Senate Bill 514. Legis★Works. May 16, 1908.
- ↑ "Federal Tea Tasters Repeal Act of 1996 ~ P.L. 104-128" (PDF). 110 Stat. 1198 ~ House Bill 2969. U.S. Government Printing Office. April 9, 1996.
- ↑ "H.R. 2969 ~ Federal Tea Tasters Repeal Act of 1996". P.L. 104-128 ~ 110 Stat. 1198. Congress.gov. February 23, 1996.
External links
- "Decision of Comptroller General - 6 Comp. Gen. 140 ~ Boards and Commissions - Tea Inspectors". U.S. GAO ~ A-13436. U.S. Government Accountability Office. August 21, 1926.
- "The Role of the U.S. Tea Examiner Office in Procurement of Tea by the Department of Defense" (PDF). U.S. GAO ~ NSIAD-84-126. U.S. Government Accountability Office. June 22, 1984.
- DeWitt, Karen (September 26, 1995). "Tea, but No Sympathy, for the Tasters". The New York Times.
- "This Week In FDA History - The Federal Tea Tasters Repeal Act of 1996". U.S. Food and Drug Administration. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. April 9, 1996.
- DeWitt, Patricia (May 6, 1998). "A Brief History of Tea: The Rise and Fall of the Tea Importation Act" (PDF). DASH ~ Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard. Harvard University.
- "Tempest in a Teapot: Tea & Politics & Health ~ Board of Tea Experts". History of Medicine. U.S. National Library of Medicine. August 13, 2004.