I had brought this matter to the attention of this list several weeks ago
when it was first announced. It seems to be moving much faster that could
have been predicted, perhaps because of Michelle Obama's involvement.
The danger is that some self-appointed "consumer advocate" group wanted to
use "common measures" to describe quantities of a serving. Such measures
would likely include the teaspoon and tablespoon that USMA Vice President
Paul Trusten so rightfully dreads, as well as "ounces."
Why Michelle Obama, having no government position, should be so involved
in this matter is probably because of a perceived "political" benefit,
because she has no scientific, measurement, or medical background that I
am aware of. She is likely to be operating in ignorance, at least as far
as it comes to measurement issues, and probably the medical issues as
well.
Given the cool reception of the Metric Petition by the Obama White House,
I would not expect either Michelle or husband to be very aware of the
measurement issues here, not to speak of the medical issues.
I hope that in the last weeks, Lorelle Young, USMA President, and Paul
Trusten have been working on an official approach to the controlling
agency (Food & Drug Administration?), so that the U.S. Metric Association
can be brought in as a technical consultant and have major input into the
proposals and final design of the Nutrition Label.
This is an important and practical issue into which the USMA can dig its
teeth. These nutritional labels are viewed every day by hundreds of
millions of people. Just think what an impact a completely metric label
would have!
Paul, being a registered pharmacist, would be in a unique position to be a
government consultant on this matter. Not only is he familiar with the
medical aspects, but also with the metrication aspects.
Martin Morrison
"Metric Today" Columnist
============
On Thu, 27 Feb 2014, Metric Rules Info wrote:
I saw this story on the BBC News iPhone App and thought you should see it:
US plans sweeping food label changes
First Lady Michelle Obama is to unveil plans for the most sweeping overhaul of
nutrition labels on US food packages in more than two decades.
Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26371692
