A recent posting by NIST (the National Institute of Standards and Technology) has prompted this question: Are American labelling requirements now illegal under WTO rules?
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Category: Consumer affairs
Tory spokesman supports centilitres of alcohol
In a commendable outbreak of common sense, Conservative health spokesman, Andrew Lansley, has proposed that, in order to clarify the amount of alcohol being consumed, bottles and cans should be labelled with the quantity of pure alcohol in centilitres rather than in so called “units”. But will this lead to a wider realisation that draught beer should also be measured in litres?
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Electric cars – an opportunity for SI, or a threat?
The arrival of electric cars on our streets will draw attention to measures for comparing performance.
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Milk pricing – is there method in the supermarket muddle?
The pricing of milk should be simple and clear, for milk is a staple item in every household. In reality, confusion often reigns.
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BIS sticks with pints of beer (but only on draught)
As expected the Business Department has refused to permit sales of draught beer and cider in convenient metric measures – but its reasoning is bizarre.
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The English language – not to be taken for granted
Martin Vlietstra suggests a possible threat to our prosperity resulting from our resistance to change.
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A sticky problem with symbols
As a result of having to use two systems of measurement, many in the UK are familiar with neither. Philip Bladon, a regular contributor to MetricViews, draws our attention to yet another example.
Free-for-all on packages sizes, but no help for consumers?
The Government has published its decisions on deregulating package sizes (as required by a 2007 EU Directive), including advice for business. But, so far, there is no advice for consumers.
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Will 2009 bring metric-only labelling to the USA?
The coming year may see progress in this area. MetricViews offers a guide for the novice.
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Our Christmas Cracker
The traditional Christmas cracker usually contains a joke, a paper hat and a toy, and goes off with a bang. Metric Views, in its cracker, has an anecdote about a Christmas Fair, links to two radio programmes, and a video with some knockabout fun.
Metric Views 