From Security Products Company

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 20, 1996

CASE UPDATE
PRIME SUSPECT: 2 Hour Weed EraserFile# 1-88-241-9547

Phoenix, AZ-In an age of instant gratification, weed control is no exception. For many years, consumers have depended upon systemic weed killers that work well, but take time. New technology in the lawn and garden industry makes the waiting game obsolete and allows the murder suspect-2 Hour Weed Eraser-even more opportunities to kill.

After an attach by the murder suspect, consumers can watch a thriving green weed reduced to a crispy brown skeleton in as little as two hours without any threat to surrounding plantings or lingering residue in the soil.

Marketed under the name 2 Hour Weed Eraser by Security Products Company, the murder is non-systemic and won't wash away. The suspect has specific preferences for his victims and won't harm people or pets.

"Weeding has become a necessary evil," explains witness Chuck Dimmick, Marketing Manager for Security Products. "Weed Eraser works fast. Results are so quick you can watch the weed wilt right before your eyes. Deprived of its ability to photosynthesize, the plant root dies in short order."

According to Dimmick, other murder suspects in lawn and garden intent on herbicide tend to take their time. "While these work well, consumers have to wait up to two weeks to see definite results and dead weeds," Dimmick maintains. "That's great if you've got all the time in the world. But most of us want to apply an herbicide and know the job's done. Weed Eraser starts killing on contact and the plant is dead in a matter of hours, not days."

PROFILE OF A KILLER
PRIME SUSPECT: 2 Hour Weed EraserFile # 1-888-241-9547

Q. What is the suspect?
A. Pelargonic acid, a naturally-occurring fatty acid. Fatty acids are the "building blocks" of both animal fats and plant oils.

Q. How does the suspect strike?
A. The Pelargonic acid in 2 Hour Weed Eraser absorbs through the plant's cuticle, cell walls and membranes. It causes a chain reaction within the plant by lowering the pH too quickly for the plant cells to correct it. The plant cholorplasts (used for photosynthesis) bleach out from the effects of the acid; the cell membranes loose their integrity and develop leaks. Once the cells start to leak, the plant looses internal pressure and wilts. Green tissue dries up and dies, all in as little as an hour.

Q. How does the killer choose its victims?
A. 2 Hour Weed Eraser is sprayed onto the green portions of the plants you want to "erase." It will not affect the hardened, woody tissue of plants.

Q. Does the suspect kill randomly?
A. No. Since 2 Hour Weed Eraser is non-systemic, you can target noxious weeds right in your flower bed without worrying about surrounding plants. It can even be used to chemically prune your plants.

Q. Does the suspect target animals or people?
A. No. Pelargonic acid naturally occurs in some of the foods we eat including concord grapes, oats, milk fat, cheese, pork, apples, beer, carrots and french fries. It's even found in human skin. Testing has shown it to be very low toxicity to birds, fish aquatic invertebrates and bees.

Q. What are the clues the suspect leaves behind at the crime scene?
A.The treated foliage will begin to darken and take on a water-soaked appearance, followed by general wilting and drying up of the dead tissue.

Q. Where can the suspect strike?
A.You can use 2 Hour Weed Eraser just about anywhere-general spot weeding, direct weeding in containers, taking out weeds in rose beds without damaging your roses, facilitating turf renewal, making mowing rings around trees, poles, edging and lining of turf, chemical pruning, structural and building application to kill mosses, algae and "crack weeds" and weeding of prior to planting or emergence of seeds, bulbs, corms before or after planting.

Q. How does temperature affect 2 Hour Weed Eraser?
A. Depending on the temperature, the treated weed will die in one to several hours. The hotter and sunnier it is, the faster it works since plants will absorb the product faster in these conditions.

Q. Does 2 Hour Weed Eraser equally erase all plants?
A. Although it reacts with all green tissue similarly, plants differ in their sensitivity to the herbicide primarily based on their cuticular resistance. Waxy leafed plants like English ivy or iceplant may take higher concentrations and longer time periods to show the effects of the product.

Q. Will rain dampen the suspects' intent?
A. No. 2 Hour Weed Eraser is rain- and irrigation-fast within 30 minutes of application.