Memorex adds scent to prevent kids from huffing its Air Dusters

No joke, man, Memorex -- yeah, that Memorex -- recognized that teenage huffers are so into snorting their compressed-gas dusting products they went ahead and added a deterrent ("bitterant", a "bitter safety additive") to keep impressionable youth from getting all whacked up on the stuff. So far as we can tell, their new, smellier Air Dusters won't be branded any differently, so the next time you go "bagging" or "dusting" (we love the fact their press release quotes euphemisms for getting high), don't be too surprised at the awful and/or vomit-inducing scent emitted. Remember kids: no huffin.

[Joseph @ May 24th 2007 4:43PM]

It better be poo scented. Because Spraypaint and glue are not deterring these kids, but poo seems to deter everyone.

I would also think vomit scented would prevent people from using it.

I cant wait to clean out my computer keyboard with vomit scented air.

[Wayne @ May 24th 2007 4:54PM]

A "bitterant" isn't really a scent. It's simply extremely bitter and causes vomiting at low levels. The most common type of denatured alcohol contains Bitrex at 40 ppb. Bitterants are used to prevent poisoning or unwanted ingestion or inhalation of chemicals.

[Jonathan Keim @ May 24th 2007 4:55PM]

Darn, looks like I'll be buying the off-brand now

[joanne @ Mar 25th 2008 2:00PM]

It is frightening to me. It is not only teenagers
huffing. My son is 23 and just huffed 4 cans of dust-off lit a cigarette and half of his face was burned with second degree burns. Naturally, not knowing what happened I went to help I've have tried so hard to help, but I am weary now, I am sixty and he is 23 and a smart beautiful young man with a future of tragidy if he continues to do this.
He used to smoke marijauna and went to rehap, he likes this because he thinks no one will find out with blood tests.
Perhaps, the pain of the burn, and the slow recovery will help him reach bottom. But everyone in the world gives me advice, don't give him money, so I went to his home cleaned it and bought groceries and paid one month's rent, he has been off of work and will return in a few days. He has
no friends where he has lived for a year and when he was in pain wanted to come home, after I called 911 and he went to the hospital and pain meds where
given he becqm3 stronger and decided to stay at his home. People tell me, you help him, let him suffer,
he makes money, but I guess I an enabler, I am worn, and I have spoken the truth, yelling at me will do no good, It will only hurt more. Joqnn3

[Jonathan Keim @ Mar 25th 2008 11:30PM]

Well joanne, after hearing your story I feel that you are putting the blame on yourself when you shouldn't be. He is a grown man and makes his own decisions (and CONSEQUENTLY is responsible for them).

For what it is worth, the comment I made was just a funny remark, I do not 'huff'

[Mike @ May 24th 2007 4:57PM]

After watching a close friend of mine almost die from huffing duster it wont take a new smell to make me not want to inhale this stuff...

[Erik Baca @ May 24th 2007 4:59PM]

^^LMAO^^

I acidentally got some of this in my mouth one day.... Talk about going straight to the head :O

[DJBro @ May 24th 2007 5:01PM]

im pretty sure federal law says it has to have the "Contains Bitrex" or "Contains Bitterant" on the side of the packaging...

Bitterant... sounds a lot loke Bit Torrent

[Georgi @ May 24th 2007 5:05PM]

The air dusters that Costco carries, "Falcon Dust-Off" have had this for a while now.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust-Off

[runyu @ May 24th 2007 5:17PM]

teenagers wouldn't huff on their cans if they didn't tell them that they were huff-able

[jerry @ May 24th 2007 5:21PM]

I guess that ruins my saturday plans

[Jason @ May 24th 2007 5:24PM]

Adding bitterant to Duster sure beats adding Duster to Bit Torrent! Although I can almost picture the RIAA secsretly plotting something to that effect already.....

[Marshall @ May 24th 2007 5:31PM]

As long as I can still flip the can upside down and use the propellant to freeze droplets of water on my desk, I will still be as amused as I ever have been by spray air. I guess my dream of one day using spray air to chill a martini glass is shot though.

[tiuk @ May 24th 2007 5:37PM]

Kids huffing this stuff is actually a serious problem, believe it or not. People have died.

That said, the bitterant is pretty horrible. Every six months I have to clean out the PCs at work with Dust-Off, and I go through several cans. .Even casual use of the product as intended results in a horrible taste in your mouth.

[Merritt @ May 24th 2007 5:38PM]

We have some of the air duster stuff made by 3m. It is horrible. somebody in our office used it to clean the computer keyboard and it was horrible. Most of the office got sick from the one time use. My mouth and throat were burning for a whole 24 hours. This is a horrible trend and we won't be buying this brand now either.

[Derek @ May 25th 2007 1:07PM]

I have to agree with Merritt on this one. I used some stuff with that in it to clean out a dusty old computer case, and the next 24 hours my nose was bleeding, burning and I was coughing up a storm. No, I didn't huff the stuff either! I used it as directed. This stuff should be avoided like the plague. If you have some of this, I suggest you wear a gas mask while dusting, lest you wish to face the wrath of the bittergent.

For those of you questioning the smell, it does smell pleasant, but its like a sweet kiss of death for your respiratory tract. AVOID AVOID!!

[Chuckles McGee @ May 24th 2007 5:42PM]

I can't believe people would be huffing compressed air in the first place. That stuff is not just air and some nitrous oxide propellant- it's toxic stuff in itself. You'd be deprived of oxygen AND breathing toxic crud. Darn kids!

[eh @ May 24th 2007 5:45PM]

The people who tested the product must have had an interesting time

[npChaos @ May 24th 2007 6:38PM]

I hate to say this, but anyone who goes around abusing cans of spray paint and air dusters deserves what they get. Maybe it would be best to thin the herd a bit? How many IQ points does it take to make my fries anyways? LOL, j/k.

All joking aside, that'll just raise the price of air dusters and make them more annoying to everyone else. If they really wanted to huff something, they'll find cheaper alternatives, you just can't win...

[empurium @ May 24th 2007 6:47PM]

Oh well, I doubt they'll be adding bitterant to Whipped Cream anytime soon. Let the good times roll!

[A Gupta @ May 24th 2007 7:07PM]

Yeah... I used some of this stuff (3M dust remover) with bitterant. Every time I licked my lips after touching my face after touching my keyboard, I tasted a horrible taste. I was wondering what it was... it's the damn bitterant. Now I don't know if I can use this stuff on my keyboard without having it make me taste bad for a week. Nasty.

[ryan @ May 24th 2007 7:27PM]

this is nothing new, memorex has even been adding this to their products for the last few months. We use them at work and the new one definitely doesn't smell pleasant

[Dr Buzz0 @ May 24th 2007 8:44PM]

If it's so bad that you can detect it on your fingers from a keyboard and it smells like @$$ then I'd just as soon buy something else. I had no intention of snuffing it, but I can see how this would hurt sales if it just smells unpleasant.

I don't understand why you'd want to stop anyone from sniffing it either. If you're idea of fun is huffing a can of compressed gas then it might be a good thing to get you out of the gene pool, ideally before you reproduce. We already have enough stupids procreating as is.

[invictive @ May 24th 2007 9:03PM]

Be careful with that stuff, I was using some to clean my computer and my cat was close by, he must have got a mouthful of the stuff because he start coughing and then threw up.

I was unfortunate to get a bit in my mouth as well and it was awful. I only buy the stuff without bitterant added now.

[Ricardo @ May 24th 2007 9:05PM]

umm...if you want to trip out on that just go get some whippits!

[sean @ May 24th 2007 9:53PM]

I am officially old. I had no idea you could get high from this.

I guess I should go home now and yell at kids to get off my lawn.

[Civisi @ May 24th 2007 10:00PM]

I have some of this stuff at home right now. Not sure what brand, but I got it in a two-pack at Staples.

I actually think the bittergent stuff smells good. Now, I would never huff it, and it might cause nausea, but the little bit that I have smelled isn't all that bad...

[Elliot @ May 24th 2007 10:28PM]

but they are losing business! XD

[Andy @ May 24th 2007 11:40PM]

Kinda makes me want to sniff it to see what it smells like. Sort of counter-productive if you ask me.

[o0adam0o @ May 24th 2007 11:56PM]

Whuuuuut??? You can get high off this stuff? And here i am looking in the shed for spray paint.

[unkn @ May 25th 2007 3:05AM]

Yea, like some others have said, I also have been using 3M canned air (with bitterant) to dust under my keyboard and the fans and such of my laptop and desktop. And I'm NEVER buying it again! EVER! All I did was simply spray a bit under my keyboard and dusted out the fans on my laptop, and for 2 strait days after that I was practically choking whenever I was near my laptop, and EVERYTHING I ate and drank tasted discusting, and unbarable.

I immediately washed my face and hands for several minutes and everything still tasted extremely bitter, then I took a shower, and everything was STILL extremely bitter!

This crap is rediculous, I didn't even have the spray near me, just on my laptop yet all this happened! Not only that but I only used about 5 seconds worth of the stuff on it. This was about 4 days ago, and the taste is still not 100% gone yet.

I do think it's a good idea to put something like this into harmful, sniffable products, but this is going too far, it's like I'm being punished for buying thier product, and using it the way it was intended!

[unkn @ May 25th 2007 3:05AM]

By the way, it NOT A SMELL, IT'S A TASTE, and it RUINS YOUR FOOD AND DRINKS! Oh, and to add to what I said, even my bro was saying that everything tasted horrible even days after I used it, and he wasn't even there when I sprayed it.

[Steve @ May 25th 2007 6:29PM]

Some idiot teenager huffing duster managed to drive himself right into our TGI Fridays awhile back. Damn kids

[Jesse @ May 26th 2007 3:21PM]

Radio Shack still has the good stuff. It's twice as much as anywhere else, also Wal Mart has had the stuff with bitterent for quite a while.

[amt @ May 29th 2007 9:48PM]

There's going to be a lot of soldiers who are upset to hear this. With mandatory drug testing a good many have turned to huffing to get their fix of mind numbing intoxicants. I've known quite a few who made it through a tour in the sandbox by huffing compressed air and sneaking in bootleg Iraqi liquor...

I guess Memorex just doesn't support the troops.