A NOT So Funny Home Video

A recent episode of America’s Funniest Home Videos showed a man striking a can of spray paint with an axe.  The can burst leaving blue paint all over the man’s face.  The video was presented in kind of a slap-stick clowning around tone, but puncturing any aerosol can is nothing to clown around about and presents serious safety risks.  The Consumer Aerosol Products Council (CAPCO) wrote a letter to the producer of the show addressing our concerns about the video making light of a very dangerous act that is clearly against the instructions for safe usage of the product, as well as our concerns that children or others might also try to imitate the act. 

We received a prompt response from Vin Di Bona Productions addressing our concerns and agreeing to avoid using the clip again in future episodes.  CAPCO and the aerosol products industry are dedicated to providing consumers with accurate information about aerosol products, including proper use and disposal, to learn more please visit www.aerosolproducts.org.  

Recycling…Just One More Way We All Can Help Keep America Beautiful!

One of the easiest ways to contribute to a more beautiful America is by recycling. Many empty and discarded items can be recycled and aerosol product cans are included among them. Recently, CAPCO partnered with one of the nation’s largest volunteer-based community action and education organizations – Keep America Beautiful, Inc. (KAB).

Through our partnership, CAPCO is supporting KAB’s new initiative “Recycle-Bowl” – a recycling competition for K-12 classrooms with the ultimate goal of increasing recycling rates and furthering education about recycling within U.S. schools. As a co-sponsor of the Recycle-Bowl Toolkit, CAPCO provided an aerosol can recycling fact sheet and classroom activity that is included in the kit. Other materials within the toolkit include Recycle-Bowl competition posters, environmentally friendly lesson plans for teachers, a complimentary book for students to read, and more.

Participation in Recycle-Bowl is easy and registration is open now. So visit the KAB website today and register your classroom for Recycle-Bowl. Only the first 1000 schools to register will receive a Recycle-Bowl toolkit. Registration closes on Tuesday, October 9, 2012, and the competition gets underway from October 15 through November 9, 2012. Winning schools will receive a monetary award ranging between $500 and $2,500.

Just remember…there are many ways we can keep America beautiful through recycling, but there is only one KAB Recycle-Bowl. Will you join CAPCO in support and spread the word about participating in this great initiative?

Expanding CAPCO Educational Messages through New Channels

As part of CAPCO’s mission to provide accurate information about aerosol products, one of its key target audiences is teachers.  In addition to attending the National Science Teachers Association annual conference each year where CAPCO reaches thousands of teachers with its messaging about recycling aerosol product containers, the technology used in aerosols and correcting any dated misconceptions about aerosol products and the environment, CAPCO also supports other groups as well.

Women in Science:

The Oklahoma Women in Science Conference is free to all participants and features many speakers
and hands on activities for approximately 500 girls and their 90 teachers to encourage them to consider careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).   Research shows (link to source) only 15% of incoming coming college freshmen women intend to pursue a major in STEM as compared to 30% of men. Keeping Math & Science at the forefront for all students is important to maintain a high level of product innovation in the aerosol products industry as well as important for our workforce as a whole to stay at the leading edge of innovation.


 

Percentage of Employed STEM Professionals Who Are Women, Selected Professions, 2008

Women are clearly a minority in STEM focused studies and careers and CAPCO was pleased to support the Oklahoma Women in Science Conference by sending full-color flyers highlighting all of its web-based educational resources, a hand-out on Recycling Facts and was also listed on the conference’s wiki space.  Dr. Theresa Cullen, Professor of Instructional Psychology and Technology at University of Oklahoma and key organizer for the event, finds value in giving the students a broad perspective on issues and strives to include materials both from regulatory bodies as well as from industry.

Chilean Chamber of Aerosol Products:

The Chilean Chamber of Aerosol Products has begun an outreach program to help educate Chilean students about aerosol product technology, recycling aerosol cans and aerosols and the environment.  As part of their outreach efforts, they are having the “Another Amazing Aerosol Adventure”  educational video professionally translated into Spanish.  This will be a great opportunity not only for the Chilean Chamber of Aerosol Products to reach out in Chile, but also for CAPCO to reach more of the Spanish speaking market in the U.S. and other Spanish speaking countries.

Disney Makes Good

Sometimes in the world of entertainment mistakes happen. And it should not be a surprise that one might find good intentions behind some of those mistakes. Such was the case involving a children’s program from Disney’s Television Animation division.

CAPCO reached out to Disney regarding the negative slant and inaccuracies geared towards aerosol products in its popular cartoon series “Phineas and Ferb.” While the aerosol industry applauds the effort of using art and entertainment to educate our youth about the importance of protecting the environment, there is reason for alarm when that education is based on bad information.

Recently, CAPCO received a letter back from Disney acknowledging the aerosol industry’s concerns and recognizing the potential reputational harm that the misinformation in the cartoon could cause.

At the center of CAPCO’s concern was the plot of the episode, in which the villain attempted to destroy the ozone using aerosol sprays (today’s aerosol products don’t contain ozone-depleting chemicals, in fact, they have not contained CFCs for more than 30 years). To correct the misinformation and avoid other misunderstandings, Disney indicated that it would modify the episode for future airings by incorporating new dialogue and changing the overall direction to reflect a more positive tone regarding aerosol products.

We are pleased to have received such a positive response from Disney as their programming reaches millions of viewers each year. Bringing this to the attention of Disney helps to ensure that similar misinformation regarding modern day aerosol products is not presented in future episodes of “Phineas and Ferb” and, hopefully, other cartoons on the network. Clearly, Disney values the presentation of accurate information in its programming.

And for that we applaud them.

Aerosols vs. Aerosol Products

Often consumers and media alike confuse “aerosol products” with the broader term “aerosols.” According to the Merriam-Webster online dictionary the word “Aerosol” has 2 definitions:

1. : a suspension of fine solid or liquid particles in gas ; also plural : the fine particles of an aerosol
2. : a substance (as an insecticide or medicine) dispensed from a pressurized container as an aerosol; also : the container for this

Most people think that aerosol products (the second definition) is the only definition for aerosols, and they read scientific reports on climate change and incorrectly attribute the affects of stratospheric aerosols (first definition: fine particles in the air that come from carbon emissions and other natural causes) to aerosol products. This leads to confusion and unwarranted negative association of the aerosol product form to global warming.

A recent blog posting by the American Geophysical Union (AGU) gives many examples of how technical scientific terminology is often misinterpreted by the layman. The article states “there are dozens of words common to climate change research that have the same problem, she said: “error, values, risk, uncertainty – even “aerosol,” which means a small atmospheric particle to scientists, but means “spray can” to many other people.”

Clearly there is a great deal of confusion around aerosol products, and it is important for consumers to know that aerosol products:

1. Do not contain ozone depleting substances (and haven't contained CFCs over 30 years)
2. Do not contribute to global warming

For more information and facts about aerosol products, please visit: http://www.aerosolproducts.org/

CAPCO Responds to Misinformation in Disney Cartoon

A popular Disney kid's cartoon, Phineas and Ferb has an episode "Ain't no Kiddie Ride" with a lot of misinformation about consumer aerosol sprays and the ozone layer. CAPCO sent the following letter to the Corporate Communications Department at Disney.

To Whom it May Concern:

This e-mail is regarding misinformation on the Phineas and Ferb cartoon episode “Ain't no Kiddie Ride.” In this episode, Dr. Doofensmirtz is gathering up all the aerosol cans in order to spray his name into the sky and burn a hole in the ozone layer. We are writing because of the very negative tone towards aerosol products and blatant misinformation presented in the cartoon. The cartoon tends to have somewhat of a science learning and inventive undertone, so it is even more concerning that children are being presented with misinformation about aerosol products and their impact on the environment.

The cartoon states that the aerosol products contain “ozone depleting propellants” that will be used for the “aerosol propelled Ozone Depletenator” and the “ozone depleting gases therefore destroying the protective ozone layer.” The fact is, consumer aerosol products have not contained the ozone depleting propellants Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) for over 30 years.

In the mid-1970s scientists discovered that CFCs may have been damaging the Earth's upper ozone layer. At that time, many aerosol products did use CFCs as propellants. However, product manufacturers voluntarily began removing CFCs from aerosols prior to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banning them from use in aerosol products in 1978. You will find this information on the EPA website at: http://www.epa.gov/ozone/defns.html

Because of the extremely negative tone towards aerosol products which is based on faulty information, we ask that you stop playing this episode of Phineas and Ferb. Also, please consider consulting the EPA, or the www.aerosolproducts.org website for consultation for future Phineas and Ferb or other Disney sponsored programs that mention consumer aerosol products.