Emma Sophie Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt (born January 7, 1901 in Frankfurt am Main – died October 29, 1986 there) was a German politician (CDU). From 1961 to 1966 she was Federal Minister of Health in the Federal Republic of Germany and thus the first German Federal Minister. Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt became politicized by reading Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and Alfred Rosenberg's "Myth of the 20th Century". Shocked by the image of women propagated by the National Socialists, she publicly began to warn against National Socialism. After the federal elections in 1961, Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt was appointed Federal Minister for Health on November 14, 1961. Her appointment had been pushed through against the opposition of Konrad Adenauer. During her tenure, Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt introduced some important innovations, such as the best-before date and the labeling of foreign substances in food. Environmental issues were also part of the newly founded ministry, and so the first environmental protection regulations to keep water and air clean were issued under Elisabeth Schwarzhaupt. The Contergan scandal happened right at the beginning of her term of office, as a result of which she pushed through a reform of the Medicines Act, which meant that medicines now had to be tested for possible prenatal damage when the medicine was used before they were marketed.