Kleenex launches tissue that fights cold bug

Straits Times ^ | 07/15/04 | Bryan Huang

[TigerLikesRooster]

Kleenex launches tissue that fights cold bug By Bryan Huang

KLEENEX has a new facial tissue that is designed to kill 99.9 per cent of cold and flu viruses.

In a news release on the Kimberly-Clark website, the company announced that the Kleenex Anti-Viral tissue will begin shipping in late August and be available throughout the US by early October 2004.

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The tissue relies on a three-ply design that has a moisture-activated middle layer, which is treated with an anti-viral formula. When moisture from a cough or sneeze hits that layer, the tissue begins its work, killing the viruses within 15 minutes.

The formula itself is made from citric acid and sodium lauryl sulfate, both common ingredients found in everyday products.

Mr Robert van der Merwe, the group president for Kimberly-Clark's North Atlantic Family Care, said: 'This product helps address an important health issue that affects millions of people each year.

'Kleenex Anti-Viral tissue was developed in response to the needs of our consumers.'

The tissue will be available in two package sizes, a 60-count and a family-size 120-count.

[Adder]

Uh...how do you "kill" a virus when viruses aren't alive to begin with?

[Puppage]

Uh...how do you "kill" a virus when viruses aren't alive to begin with?

I don't know...raise their taxes?

[greasepaint]

What viruses are immume?

[southernnorthcarolina]

I suspect this will be a more effective marketing gimmick than an effective weapon against the spread of cold viruses. But it strikes me as a damn good marketing gimmick.

I'll buy a few shares of Kimberly-Clark (KMB on the New York Stock Exchange) on this news. Look at the price of a box of Kleenex, consider the raw ingredients cost, and tell me it isn't a cash cow. Now, add a penny's worth of an anti-viral solution of dubious efficacy ("the formula itself is made from citric acid and sodium lauryl sulfate, both common ingredients found in everyday products"), mark the price of a box up 25¢, and watch the money roll in.

[Nataku X]

What viruses are immune?

The ones you have to worry about. Seriously. If a tissue can kill a germ your immune system can, too. Products like this only enable "super-bugs" to flourish.

If we don't do something about the gross overuse of antibiotics soon we'll be croaking from paper cuts.

[rod1]

Yeah might as well squirt some orange juice and soap on your nose. Same thing.

[greasepaint]

Can an average person,
survive exposure to golden staph?

[najida]

If we don't do something about the gross overuse of antibiotics soon we'll be croaking from paper cuts.

Amen.