The hype over using duct tape in an emergency...

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

That most lamentable duct tape suggestion last week by a Homeland Security official -- which drove countless panicked citizens out to buy the product -- has been widely derided as useless and pretty crazy.

 

But maybe not so crazy. Turns out that nearly half -- 46 percent to be precise -- of the duct tape sold in this country is manufactured by a company in Avon, Ohio. And the founder of that company, that would be Jack Kahl, gave how much to the Republican National Committee and other GOP committees in the 2000 election cycle? Would that be more than $100,000?

 

His son, John Kahl, who became CEO after his father stepped down shortly after the election, told CNBC last week that "we're seeing a doubling and tripling of our sales, particularly in certain metro markets and around the coasts and borders." The plant has "gone to a 24/7 operation, which is about a 40 percent increase" over this time last year, Kahl said. The company had more than $300 million in sales in 2001.

 

And Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge keeps pushing the product. "You may want to have a safe shelter for four or six hours," he told PBS's Jim Lehrer on Wednesday, "until . . . the chemical plume moves on." So "you may need that duct tape."

 

Even if you don't want to suffocate in a shelter, there are myriad uses for the sticky stuff. The March Consumer Reports on Health newsletter hails a new study "indicating that simply covering warts with duct tape . . . works significantly better than the common chemical freezing therapy. "It's worth trying," the newsletter says.

 

Clearly not useless. And crazy? Like a fox. Wonder who manufactures all that plastic sheeting.

 

Washington Post Article

 

I just knew there was some reason why you had to buy DUCT tape to do a good job off sealing off a room to possibly give yourself 3 or 4 hours in the event of a terrorist emergency. I don't see why Masking tape would be any less effective..but now that makes sense.

[Guest El Satanico]

Yes...it was all a plot to rid America of unsightly warts.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

This was an overblown story. Somone asked Ridge what an emergency kit should contain and one of things mentioned was Duct Tape. It was only in passing, but fear sells.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"But maybe not so crazy. Turns out that nearly half -- 46 percent to be precise -- of the duct tape sold in this country is manufactured by a company in Avon, Ohio. And the founder of that company, that would be Jack Kahl, gave how much to the Republican National Committee and other GOP committees in the 2000 election cycle? Would that be more than $100,000?"

 

THAT'S funny. Reminds me of when Clinton had the line-item veto for a week, chopped off some pork from some bill, and it turned out that the money he took was going to some Republican donor. Thus screams of partianship ensued until the High Court threw the line-item veto out.

 

I sided with Bill on this one...

[Guest Some Guy]

I don't see why Masking tape would be any less effective..but now that makes sense.

Masking tape doesn't stick as well, isn't as think, and as such wouldn't hold chemicals out as well.

 

I don't think this is a big conspirosy, it's probably more of a happy coincidence.

[Guest Tyler McClelland]

happy coincidence.

 

Indeed

[Guest DrTom]

The story's amusing, but considering that many companies make what is popularly called "duct tape," I don't see anything there. It's an eponym for thick, sticky grey tape that had myriad uses. It would be like the government urging people to stock up on kleenex, then saying Kleenex's stock went up, so there must be a conspiracy afoot: "kleenex" is the eponym for thin facial tissue.

 

Thus screams of partianship ensued until the High Court threw the line-item veto out.

The line-item veto was quite correctly struck down by the Supreme Court because it was unconstitutional.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

The story's amusing, but considering that many companies make what is popularly called "duct tape," I don't see anything there. It's an eponym for thick, sticky grey tape that had myriad uses.

And ironically enough, it isn't recommended for ductwork.

[Guest Some Guy]

And don't forget that it's useful for taping a cop to a chair so that you can cut his ear off and pour gasoline on him in a failed attempt to light him on fire. Duct tape is the shit.

 

Seriously their are a lot of Duct Tape makers, one is called "Duck Tape" for instance.

[Guest Midnight Express83]

What I am suprised is that so many people DIDN"T have duct tape to begin with, I thought every house had two things: WD40 to make anything go. Duct tape to make anything stop.

 

As a worker at a Hardware store, I know about the crazy people. So we made money of people being retarded. Even with us telling people they are fucking nuts, we sold the shit with the most cost coming back to us so that those people can feel safe. Whatever safe is. We even made up bullshit tag lines like, putting alot of plants in this fall out room will add oxygen so that you can live. Even though we just helped out a best friend to our boss. Marketing 101, when face with a demand fed by idiotness, milk them for all they are worth.

[Guest swan]

I thought every house had two things: WD40 to make anything go.

The two most common items that are also the two most commonly missed used items also.

 

Really the whole duct tape thing is a joke. Anyone with forced air heat knows you can't seal the house off or you'll die of cardon monoxide poisoning. Anyways my brother in law is in the marines and he tells me they get a good laugh out of it. He said if a neighborhood in anytown, usa suffered a chemical attack about all you could do is stick your head between your legs and kiss your ass good bye.