Jamila Thompson, legislative director for Congressman John Lewis of Georgia served as the keynote speaker for the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Caucus event held at the National Press Club on January 29.
Ms. Thompson has been involved with standards issues from the trade perspective for many years. She spoke about the importance of standards in international trade and the growing interest by Congressman Lewis in looking to standards to help craft practicable solutions to global problems. She also highlighted the work underway within the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on anti-bribery - ISO 37001 currently under development by ISO project committee (PC) 278 - and volunteered to host a Hill seminar for the ANSI-accredited U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to PC 278 when that group meets in Washington this spring.
Scott Cooper, ANSI's vice president for policy and government relations, introduced Ms. Thompson, and commended her for her willingness to participate, as she had just returned from Saharwi refugee camps.
Ms. Thompson noted that when she was at the camps, she looked for cookstoves - another issue presented at last year's Hill event—and was amazed by how much cooking could be accomplished on single-burner stoves using twigs, branches, and other bio-mass. A second Hill event on global solutions is planned for later this year.
Congressman Lewis, through the Trade subcommittee of the House Committee on Ways and Means, helped preside in activities on the lead-in-toys issue of seven years ago, as well as the Tazreen garment factory fire and Rana Plaza building collapse in Bangladesh, where garments were manufactured for sale in the United States. Mr. Lewis volunteered to act as lead sponsor for an event that ANSI held on Capitol Hill last spring [see related article here], which covered global supply chain issues, including worker safety and toy safety.
ANSI Caucus events are open to ANSI members and other stakeholders in the U.S. standardization community. For additional information, contact [email protected].