My guess is that the Food Marketing Institute is opposed because they fear
that the next step will be the mandating of rational metric sizes, and
there
goes their marketeering game of hiding price increases by shrinking the
amount of product in the package.
Carleton
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf
Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 19:21
To: U.S. Metric Association
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [USMA:38900] FW: RE: Voluntary metric-only amendment to FPLA and
opposition lobbying
Forwarding this to the USMA list. I second Ken's advice about contacting
businesses to request metric-only labelling.
Ezra
-------------- Forwarded Message: --------------
From: "Ken Butcher" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "'Elizabeth Gentry'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: Voluntary metric-only amendment to FPLA and opposition
lobbying
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2007 23:06:25 +0000
No, there hasn't been any effort to conduct studies because it is not
really
an issue of widespread public concern. The public currently accepts
metric
only in a wide range of products and applications.
The opposition to the FPLA amendment is essentially a carryover from the
anti-metric sentiments of
the 1970s and many of the arguments against it simply are specious. Only
the Food Marketing Institute has gone on record as opposing the amendment
while most other trade associations support it.
Another factor is that since 1999 some 48 states have amended their
requirements to permit
metric-only labeling and none of those states have reported consumer
complaints about industry having the option to label in metric units.
Hopefully, once the EU announces its decision on its 2010 deadline, we
will
be able to show that amending the FPLA will eliminate an ineffective and
unnecessary barrier to metric-only labeling.
What would help us would be for those interested in metric-only labeling
to
ask for it in retail stores and contact the mfgs of the products they buy
and request that products be labeled metric-only.
___________________________________________
Kenneth S. Butcher
Group Leader
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Weights and Measures Division
Laws and Metric Group
Stop 2600
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899-2600
301-975-4859 Fax: 301-975-8091
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.nist.gov/owm
http://www.nist.gov/metric
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Wednesday, June 13, 2007 6:49 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Voluntary metric-only amendment to FPLA and opposition lobbying
Dear Ken,
I was happy to read on the USMA mailing list that the voluntary
metric-only
labelling amendment to the FPLA has been sent again to Commerce for
possible
inclusion in the White House's legislative proposals for the next session
of
Congress.
Given the (in my view mostly specious or misguided) opposition to this
amendment that some groups (FMI, for example) have offered in the past, I
was wondering if anyone in the government is aware of any studies that
have
been done (either by the GAO, other agencies in the government, or
independent organizations) that have analyzed in a substantive and
methodologically sound way the objections that have been raised by any
industry groups or other organizations to this amendment.
Best regards,
Ezra Steinberg
Technical Writer
Kirkland WA
