Here is my post on the blog. Hopefully we can get the ball rolling on this issue come election time. 2010 is fast approaching :)
Dear Mrs. Clinton Congratulations on your decision to run in 2008 and speaking as a young person interested in America's future I wish you all the best. There is however, an issue I'd like to bring to your attention. As you are probably aware, the United States was one of the original signatories of the Treaty of the Metre, and in 1988 the Congress moved to declare the metric system the preferred system of measures within the US. Since that time the US has been going through a period of steady metrication behind the scenes, beginning in earnest with the amendment in 1992 of the Fair Packaging and Labelling Act (FPLA) requiring the use of dual units. This has worked well and metrication within industry and many other sectors is proceeding or increasing at an ever-rapid pace. There exists,however, a major stumbling block to that continued metrication. The EU has set a firm deadline of January 31,2009 to ban the use of non metric measures on all imports into their countries, as well as on any packaging or manuals that go with them. The FPLA needs to be amended again to permit the use of metric only labels in order for US businesses to avoid incurring major inventory and supply costs. It is already legal in many states to have metric only labelling but many items are not covered under state code that are covered under the FPLA. Today I'd like to ask you to lend your support to amending this act to permit voluntary metric only labels and to support further conversion to the metric system. Not doing so burdens our economy and our people with the inconvenience of using dual units and impedes trade. Many American schoolchildren have grown up at least knowing the metric units. We buy soda in liters, talk about people earning over 20k a year in salary, run 5 kilometer races, and are otherwise at least familiar enough that a full switch would not pose the same issues with confusion as it once might have, and will allow us to continue our lives using a simple, rational system that has been adopted by every other country in the world. Again, best wishes for a successful Presidential run and I hope that you can help not only my generation of Americans but indeed every other by supporting and advancing this most important issue, Sincerely xxxxxxxxxxxx On 1/21/07, John M. Steele <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
List I saw last fall had 46 of 50 States, the holdouts being New York, New Jersey, Alabama, and Hawaii. I don't if one (or which one) of them passed it, or whether the 47 figure is an error. Note that there is no overlap in what is regulated by the States under UPLR, and the Feds under FPLA. The items regulated under the FPLA are probably the more important ones. I mean how often do you buy new aluminum core clothesline (the first item on the UPLR list and perhaps a metaphor for the importance of the list vs FPLA). Amending the FPLA is VERY important. *Daniel Jackson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>* wrote: If it is legal to use SI only in 47 states out of 50, then the EU doesn't need to worry about the FPLA being amended. all they need do is sell their metric only labelled products in the 47 states that already permit metric only labelling and boycott the three that aren't. Which three are these anyway?
-- "The boy is dangerous, they all sense it why can't you?"
