<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
<META content="MSHTML 6.00.6000.16809" name=GENERATOR></HEAD>
<BODY text=#000000 bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=666092012-06042009>This is an interesting article regarding standards for
placing Braille on packaging. I think there are some potentially
interesting discussions one could have over this concept.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=666092012-06042009>Jim McCarthy</SPAN></FONT></DIV><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2></FONT><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> bkmabma@yahoo.com
[mailto:bkmabma@yahoo.com] <BR><B>Sent:</B> Friday, April 03, 2009 9:05
PM<BR><B>To:</B> undisclosed-recipients<BR><B>Subject:</B> New braille labeling
standards for packaging<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV><BR><BR><PRE><BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial>PRESS RELEASE -- Converting Magazine, 3/19/2009 9:15:00 AM</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> To better satisfy the needs of the visually impaired in North America,</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> the International Association </FONT></BIG></BIG><BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> of Diecutting and Diemaking (IADD), located in Crystal Lake, IL, has</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> created "Can-Am Braille," a set</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> of guidelines and recommendations for the use of braille on packaging.</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> The IADD worked in conjunction with the Braille Authority of North</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> America (BANA) over the past 18</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> months to develop the standard, whose official release is set for</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Friday, May 8, at the 2009</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> IADD.FSEA Odyssey in Atlanta, GA, USA. An informative technical</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> workshop, "Let Your Fingers Do The</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Talking: Braille on Folding Cartons" will review the North American</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> standard in detail. All</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> participants will receive a copy; further distribution will take place</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> postworkshop through the IADD</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> and BANA websites to reach out and bring together the printing,</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> paperboard packaging and</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> pharmaceutical industries. The standard has been reviewed and received</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> its final approval by the</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> IADD Executive Committee and Board of Directors in January 2009.</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> "The use of braille in packaging will continue to increase over the next</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> several years," predicts</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Stephen Brighton, IADD Braille Task Force Chair, "following European</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> pharmaceutical and food product</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> packaging trends in Europe."</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Brighton explains that in October 2005, a previous directive of the</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> European Commission regarding</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> the use of braille for pharmaceutical packaging was implemented as law</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> for newly approved medicinal</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> products. To address these requirements, the European Carton</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Manufacturers Association worked</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> closely with national carton associations from Austria, Belgium,</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Denmark, France, Germany, Italy,</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> to develop a standard that is</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> being used as a set of guidelines and recommendations for the use of</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> braille on packaging. Can-Am</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Braille is derived from this standard.</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Already the Canadian and U.S. packaging markets are experiencing the</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> effects of the European</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> requirements, with some larger pharmaceutical companies incorporating</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> braille on their packaging for</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> the last few years. It is essential that a common standard be in place</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> to ensure that blind and</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> visually impaired individuals will be able to benefit from its use. When</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> asked why the IADD chose to</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> base its standard on a European one, Brighton elaborates, "There is</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> nothing about braille that we</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> can hold autonomous. We have had the opportunity to collaborate with</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> BANA to marry their knowledge</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> of braille with our knowledge of what's practically possible when</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> applying braille to paperboard</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> substrates. What we are really dealing with is the independence of the</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> visually impaired. Our</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> responsibility is to ensure that their independence is respected and</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> that we, as an industry, do the</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> best that we can to produce pharmaceutical, fast food or other types of</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> paperboard packaging with</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> the best quality braille for readability and continuity through the use</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> of the standard. Otherwise</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> the purpose of producing the braille and the resources it takes in these</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> economic times ends up</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> being an exercise in futility for everyone involved."</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> "We are looking forward to the implementation of this standard." said</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Judy Dixon, chair of the</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Braille Authority of North America, "It will have the effect of making</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> more braille labels to help</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> blind people identify the packages in their everyday lives and this will</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> be a very positive step</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> forward." Interestingly, no government legislation similar to that of</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Europe is currently proposed</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> in the U.S. or Canada that would require pharmaceutical packaging to</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> have braille on it. The</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> original concept of creating a North American standard stemmed from a</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> braille workshop and</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> discussions at an IADD Can-Am Chapter meeting. Some members had</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> participated in a braille workshop</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> at the IADD Annual Meeting in Switzerland in November 2006. It was felt</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> that a proactive approach on</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> the part of industry to develop and implement its own standard would be</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> a way of reducing or even</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> eliminating legislative intervention. This has allowed the standard to</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> be developed in a time frame</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> that fosters continuity, making it more of an international standard,</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> and that ensures it will work</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> from a practical standpoint.</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> The IADD Board approved the Can-Am Braille standard in January 2009. The</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> BANA Board reviewed and has</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> approved the IADD Can-Am Braille standard in November 2008.</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Contact: Jill May, IADD Chapter Relations Coordinator, International</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> Association of Diecutting and Diemaking. Phone 1-815-455-7519; Fax</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> 1-815-455-7510; Email</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="mailto:jmay@iadd.org">jmay@iadd.org</A></FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> .</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> For more information about the IADD, visit</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="http://www.iadd.org">www.iadd.org</A></FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> .</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> For more information about BANA, visit</FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> <A class=moz-txt-link-abbreviated href="http://www.brailleauthority.org">www.brailleauthority.org</A></FONT></BIG></BIG>
<BIG><BIG><FONT face=Arial> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]</FONT></BIG></BIG>
</PRE><BR></BODY></HTML>