I think a line somewhere saying what being non-metric COSTS the US economy, and how it depresses the US GDP, would really get their attention.
John F-L From: Henschel Mark Sent: Sunday, April 07, 2013 5:11 PM To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:52615] tentative speech to High Level EU-US package labeling forum Hello everybody: Here is a copy of the tentative speech I intend to give to the EU-US high level regulatory forum held in Washington, DC on April 10. (Hectoday?) Anyway, you can all check it out and give comments. I timed it, and it barely made five minutes when I talked fast. So if you want me to add anything, something would have to be deleted. ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Remarks to the EU-US High Level Forum on International Trade Hello, My name is Mark Henschel, I am a math teacher at Madison College, a community college, in Madison, Wisconsin. I do not work for any companies that have any economic interest in US metrication and speak only as an American citizen who represents millions of Americans who want the United States to switch to the Metric System. I remember when I was 14 years old, and had to work on a paper for a high school class at the public library in Dubuque, Iowa. The librarian suggested I check the vertical file. When I did, I found a little three page pamphlet entitled "Do you measure up?" It was written by Louis Sokol from the US Metric Association. There were very simple arguments in that pamphlet, but they made sense, and reading that pamphlet literally changed my life. After college I got a job teaching plastic shop at Lindblom Technical High School in Chicago, Illinois. During the time I taught high school shop, I taught my students to make their projects in the Metric System. I used metric try squares and rulers made by Starrett and Stanley Tool and none of my students had any trouble creating their projects in SI units. During this same time I wrote a metric cookbook and a book on drafting in the Metric System called Metric Supplement to Technical Drawing. One summer I taught a course for seventh grade girls in metric cooking. None of the girls had any trouble cooking in the Metric System, and as you can see, I am still alive, so none of their metric food caused any harm to me or any of them. >From 1982 to 2007 I was a full time math professor at the City Colleges of >Chicago, and did numerous projects in my algebra and statistics classes that >were metric only. For 25 years I judged the State of Illinois Junior Academy >of Science and Chicago Public Schools Science Fairs, for best use of the >Metric System in their projects. For several years in the 1990's and early in >the 21st Century I worked displays for the Metric Programs Office under the US >Department of Commerce, working with Gerald Iannelli, Linda Crown, and Jim >McCracken to help educate people about the Metric System. This office is now >called the Laws and Metric Group, and I have fond memories of the displays I >worked and the people I met while working those displays. Over the years I obtained five college degrees, including two Master’s Degrees, and wrote two Master’s Degree Theses, both on the Metric System. From my 40 years of teaching experience, I can attest to why students in the USA do so poorly in science and math classes. I remember the first time I used the Metric System in school was when I was in chemistry class. I think this is still true for many American students. Since they are not reinforced in the use of metric units in their lives outside of school, they are confused when getting to science and math classes, and often don’t go very far in science and technology courses in high school and college. Thus, we have to import scientists and technologists from other countries where students are reinforced in society by the use of the same units that are used in the science and math classes.. This hurts our country. The dual labeling on packages is often confusing. Since both labels are on the product in the store, students don’t get a "feel" for how big metric units are. As a result, they often make mistakes in estimating how big or how heavy something is in metric units. This can lead to real trouble in medicine, as many times health professionals who do not have a feel for how heavy a child might be can easily give the wrong dose which might become a health hazard. Even outside of medicine there can be problems when people cannot estimate how big or heavy something might be in metric units. I remember the student in an engineering class who told me the bridge over a specific river had to be three meters long. Turns out it needed to be three kilometers long, but he did not have a feel for how big the units actually were. Our strength as an industrial nation goes back to the economy of scale. We were able to win World War II through the production capacity of American industry. It makes economic sense to make products in the USA and then export them all over the world. Yet it makes no sense to create one set of labels for the US market and another set for the world market. And if the labels are both inch-pound and metric, our future scientists and engineers will never get a sense of how big metric units actually are. For the sake of American industrial competitiveness and to help our children succeed in science and engineering classes, please support the metric-only update of the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act to allow, but not require, the use of metric only package labeling in the USA. Every time an American company or agency as switched to the Metric System, they have found the costs involved to be insignificant or non-existent. American workers are adaptable, and can learn to use the new units. I remember when I had to mix chemicals in a photographic darkroom. I used metric units, and it was much easier than using the American quart and ounce measurements. Several other photographers I talked to told me the same thing. Politicians often don’t realize there is much more support for American metrication than they realize, basically because the metric movement has no lobbying group. I remember one display I was working for the Laws and Metric Group, and I was wearing a hat that said "Time to go Metric" A stranger walked up to me and said "Past time to go metric." I urge the EU-US commission to make a bold step forward. Please help move the US forward on metrication. Please support the metric-only update of the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act. Thank you very much, Mark Henschel ----- Original Message ----- From: Team Metric Info <[email protected]> Date: Friday, April 5, 2013 3:23 pm Subject: [USMA:52602] FPLA question To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > Does anyone know how drug and medical devices became exempt from FPLA- they are metric-only correct? Did the FDA just give them a waiver or did someone seek congressional approval/ amendment? a.. Basic Requirements: The FPLA requires each package of household "consumer commodities" that is included in the coverage of the FPLA to bear a label on which there is: a.. a statement identifying the commodity, e.g., detergent, sponges, etc.; b.. the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor; c.. and the net quantity of contents in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count (measurement must be in both metric and inch/pound units). b.. Purpose of the Act: The FPLA is designed to facilitate value comparisons and to prevent unfair or deceptive packaging and labeling of many household "consumer commodities." c.. FDA: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) administers the FPLA with respect to foods, drugs, cosmetics, and medical devices. The FTC administers the FPLA with respect to other "consumer commodities" that are consumed or expended in the household. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 2013.0.3272 / Virus Database: 3162/6230 - Release Date: 04/07/13
