The fair packaging and labeling act

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Jeremiah Dyke Posted: Sun, Jul 11 2010 7:44 PM

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From some cursory searches online i can find no economic or  critical analysis of this act, has anyone came across anything?

We can't let such a government regualtion go without a couple of libertarian jabs and uppercuts

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The Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA or Act), enacted in 1967, directs the Federal Trade Commission and the Food and Drug Administration to issue regulations requiring that all "consumer commodities" be labeled to disclose net contents, identity of commodity, and name and place of business of the product's manufacturer, packer, or distributor. The Act authorizes additional regulations where necessary to prevent consumer deception (or to facilitate value comparisons) with respect to descriptions of ingredients, slack fill of packages, use of "cents-off" or lower price labeling, or characterization of package sizes. The Office of Weights and Measures of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce, is authorized to promote to the greatest practicable extent uniformity in State and Federal regulation of the labeling of consumer commodities.

• 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 statement identifying the commodity, e.g., detergent, sponges, etc.;
• the name and place of business of the manufacturer, packer, or distributor;
• and the net quantity of contents in terms of weight, measure, or numerical count (measurement must be in both metric and inch/pound units).
• 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."
• 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.

There are some exceptions

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Sieben replied on Sun, Jul 11 2010 7:48 PM

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The government is going to have to do SOME things to keep up its PR....

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DD5 replied on Mon, Jul 12 2010 10:18 AM

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How is this different from all other government acts of sabotage?  Do we need a critical analysis for every single Act out there?  

In the unhampered market economy, the consumer can basically have whatever he's willing to pay for.  There! submit that to the Libertarian Journal.

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Josh Fulton replied on Tue, Jul 13 2010 6:26 AM

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I don't really know about this act, but from what I can tell, it's regarded as one of the generally more innocuous acts regarding the FDA.  The really crucial ones seem to be the Kefauver-Harris Amendments of 1962, and the Food, Drug and Comsetic act of 1938.

The Independent Institute has a great section on the FDA.

http://www.fdareview.org/history.shtml

In fact, they don't even mention the fair labeling act.