I certainly agree with other list members that this amendment will be important. Although the "FPLA" sure sounded acanely obscure when I first heard about it on this list a year or so ago, it actually seems to be the tipping point for reinvigorating the US metrication program in a way that hasn't happened since maybe the 1970's.
Doing a little search brought me this document on the NIST website (you may already know about it, but it was new to me): http://ts.nist.gov/ts/htdocs/200/202/forum/2003%20ForumReport.doc Permissible Metric - Only Labeling Includes Proposed Amendments to the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act Sponsored by: The United States Department of Commerce�s National Institute of Standards and Technology and the National Conference on Weights and Measures January 2, 2004 It's a real gem that should bring joy to all of us who haven't seen it yet. I'm copying the conclusion below, which shows why this is such an important issue to our cause. David Shatto Los Angeles Conclusion Over the last decade, the marketplace has gone through frequent cycles of evolution that at times are really revolutions. Today�s products and stores (e.g., the vast menu of ready-to-eat foods in food stores and superstores that sell only office or building supplies) were not even imagined 10 years ago. Consumers expect the marketplace to be a source of products from around the world as they have come to expect retailers to provide them with both quality and value in addition to new products. Permissible metric-only labeling will enable manufacturers to package and ship their products to other markets where metric units are required without burdening them with the cost of maintaining two different packages or labels for the same package because of requirements for net content labeling. While multi-lingual labeling addresses the differences in languages around the world, there is the growing reality that the metric system will become the only measurement language in the global marketplace. It is almost certain that the European Union will require metric labeling at the end of 2009 and that deadline, although still several years away, is fast approaching in view of the time it would take for Congress to amend the FPLA, and then for the cognizant agencies to adopt changes in their regulations. Manufacturers will need to know long before 2009 whether they will be able to use metric packaging and labeling in the U.S. marketplace as well abroad, or whether U.S. manufacturers will be placed at a competitive disadvantage in the global marketplace. Requiring manufacturers and importers to pay for special packaging with both inch-pound and metric units is simply untenable and will result in higher prices for consumers. Moreover, consumers need an extended time period to become accustomed to packages labeled in metric units. The gradual transition of the retail marketplace will allow the consumer to establish metric reference points for metric units through the experience of buying metric packages mixed in with common inch-pound units. Amending the FPLA to permit metric labeling would be a step towards increased use of the metric system in the United States, helping consumers and others to use metric units on an everyday basis and to gain a greater understanding, while also allowing manufacturers and others to use packaging designed for the global marketplace. This will benefit U.S. consumers in the long term as they gain a better understanding of the measurements connected with prescription medicines and the nutritional contents of foods, which are mostly given in metric units. Long-term benefits will result if the everyday use of the metric system increases so that industry and businesses gain efficiencies through the use of an internationally accepted and used system of measurement. Increased use of the metric system in the marketplace will reinforce the efforts of the nation�s schoolteachers who teach the metric system to millions of children who currently don�t have that learning reinforced outside the classroom. This is an issue worthy of attention according to one recent study by mathematics teachers who found that American students have difficulty using what they learn, stating that the �opportunity to experience the metric system in and out of school is a major factor.� As use of metric units grow in the marketplace, it may be appropriate for teachers to focus more and more of their curricula primarily on the metric system. It has been said more than once that math and measurement skills are a national resource that we must both enhance and use to keep America�s technology and science the best in the world. To that end we believe this effort will return benefits beyond those listed above for businesses. Perhaps one of the clearest arguments for and latest recognition of the need for the United States to increase its everyday use of the metric system is found in an editorial by Thomas G. Dolan, Editorial Page Editor for Barron�s on November 25, 2002. In his editorial, entitled �Measure for Measure� he says �there are few places in the economy where the government can actually legislate American efficiency. The system of weights and measures is one of them. Congress can and should convert the country to the metric system.� Proving that Voluntary Metric Conversion Can Work Amending the FPLA to permit metric labeling would show that Congress�s decision in 1975 to adopt a voluntary approach to metric conversion for the United States can and will work. Congress adopted the voluntary approach to allow the marketplace to decide when and where to implement the use of metric units. That was a common sense decision because it can be done with the greatest efficiency and lowest cost when it is accomplished in coordination with routine revisions of packaging and labeling and with the introduction of new products or marketing initiatives. As long as there are legal or regulatory barriers to voluntary conversion to the metric system, we will need to continue to expend resources in working to have them changed so that the voluntary conversion works as it was intended and so that the benefits described above can be realized.
