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As the government seeks to offer us a sense of security, the private sector finds its latest growth industry.
By JUDY STARK, Times Homes Editor
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 22, 2003
As a third-grader in the 1950s, I crouched under my desk during air raid drills or sought refuge in the school basement. Now we look back on these innocent, pointless efforts and say: As if! Or: If only!
It took workers in moon suits months to seal off and clean out office buildings and post offices in Washington, D.C., after the anthrax scares in the fall of 2001. Every homeowner who has lived through a remodeling job knows that no amount of tape and sheeting seals out the fine dust that gets everywhere and lasts for months. Why do we think it will screen out poison in the air, even if you happen to be in your room decorated in Early Bubble Wrap when an attack happens?
Seal that room up tightly enough to keep out airborne toxins and you'll seal out oxygen and suffocate. And how are you supposed to clean up after an attack? (How do you know when it starts? How do you know when it's over?) Is this a job for a Swiffer mop and a Clorox wipe or one of those fancy new Dyson vacuum cleaners that looks like R2-D2 on steroids?
The week the federal government urged us to give tape a chance is the week that Henkel Consumer Adhesives, manufacturer of duct tape (make that Duck brand tape), introduced a line of products that included L-shaped tape corners and tape triangles that mask off the corners of windows or places where trim meets walls or spindles intersect with steps. They're available at Wal-Mart. They come in blue and lavender, so at least we can decorate our newly sealed homes.
The company's Web site (www.duckproducts.com) announced that in response to the recommendations by the Department of Homeland Security, production has increased by 40 percent. Duct tape is a $150-million-a-year industry nationally.
"It's a sad way to have to increase the demand of duct tape," said Christina A. Thompson, program manager for painting products at Liggett-Stashower, a Cleveland company that handles public relations for Henkel. "They're breaking out the reserves."
The Web site offers fun things to know and tell about duct tape and a chance to win $5,000 in scholarship money for teens who attend their high school proms "ducked out" in formal wear made of duct tape.
It is worth noting that Henkel Consumer Adhesives has its headquarters at 32150 Just Imagine Drive in Avon, Ohio. Just imagine, indeed! As for the company mascot, the duck wearing the painter's cap, amaze your friends by knowing his name: Trust E. Duck.
You can visit www.ducktapeclub.com for puzzles, games, bizarre uses for duct tape, strange but true stories and a downloadable duct tape screen saver. Click on "Duct Tape Globe" for directions on how to make roses out of duct tape.
Another site for suggestions, humor and rude remarks about duct tape is www.ducttapeguys.com, where the Guys, Jim and Tim, way back on Jan. 1 named 2003 the Official Year of Duct Tape. ("Am I prophetic or what?" Tim Nyberg said in a e-mail.) They weigh in with their comments on the Department of Homeland Security. Actually, they think of duct tape in and of itself as the Department of Homeland Security. "No home is secure without duct tape," which comes in Day-Glo colors as well as standard silver, Nyberg said.
He said in a phone interview that duct tape is "perfect for lazy guys who don't want to take time to fix things the right way." (Like what, run the war?) It's a quick fix, he said: "You slap duct tape on something and get back to the couch, the TV, the dinner table, whatever's more pressing."
The Guys advocate dropping cases of duct tape rather than bombs on our enemies. "We think in very simplistic terms," Nyberg said. "All these skirmishes are really just a quest for duct tape. It's an American product. Share the duct tape and you're one step closer to world peace."
Meanwhile, the recent demand for home security and protection equipment has been a marketer's dream, not only for manufacturers of duct tape, but also for companies such as the Regional Environmental Hazard Containment Corp., a Landover, Md., manufacturer of inflatable safe rooms. The rooms come in a suitcase-size container; you hook them to the ceiling, inflate them and step inside. The company says that the rooms offer protection against hydrogen cyanide, phosgene, mustard gas, sarin, ricin, nuclear fallout, radioactive iodine and biotoxins. Price range: $3,795 to $7,095. More than 1-million have been sold in Israel, the company says. View them at the Web site www.rehcc.com or call (301) 350-2546. Go to www.fancydeluxe.com to order ties ($20 -- watch for one on Ari Fleischer at a White House news briefing soon!) and other clothing, including bikini swimsuits, made of duct tape. Maybe the patriotic headgear du jour (if you're not wearing a gas mask) is the baseball cap at www.ducttapefashion.com ($15 to $18).
A few days after the duct tape alert, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge backed off, saying, "We don't want folks sealing up their doors or sealing up their windows." But at a government disaster-preparedness Web site unveiled Wednesday, www.ready.gov, duct tape and plastic sheeting are still on the supply list.
The Web site advises Americans that in case the air becomes badly contaminated or is full of debris, they should seek shelter in an interior room and "seal all windows, doors and air vents with plastic sheeting and duct tape. Consider measuring and cutting the sheeting in advance to save time. Be prepared to improvise and use what you have on hand to seal gaps so that you create a barrier between yourself and any contamination." As if! If only!