April Fool’s Day – what a day!  I didn’t bite on a prank played on me – well, maybe a little. 

Today, I had the opportunity to talk briefly with Thomas Friedman, author of The World Is Flat and Dr. Moises Naim, Editor-in-Chief of Foreign Policy Magazine.  On this evening, Chief Deputy Secretary of State Rodney Maddox and I traveled to Washington, DC as special guests of National Geographic Magazine and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for the preview screening of the documentary film     Illicit:  The Dark Trade.  Dr. Naim has conducted extensive research and written about counterfeiting and piracy in the global marketplace.  This documentary will be shown nationally on public broadcasting networks this spring.  The film clearly links terrorists, the bad operators, enslaved individuals, drug lords and business opportunists into a supply chain in search of unsuspecting and uneducated (to the evils of counterfeiting, at least) customers.
This film clearly illustrates the harm to businesses and workers on the economic side and to our own personal health and safety through contaminated, poisonous and otherwise unsafe products.

I was honored to be invited as the only state regulator in America who “gets it” and is leading a highly effective task force initiative against counterfeiting and piracy.

For more information on the film, visit http://www.pbs.org/illicit/.

Best Regards...

Elaine