If something is completely sealed.. store bought... FDA approved

[pooja]

how then is it subject to terrorism. If a Coke is sealed, its sealed, right? And what kind of explosive is sitting in someone's lipstick or clinique lotion. If I had to throw out products that cost that much money, I would have a fit. Some of these products women tote around amount to easily $500.00 worth of product. (hair, facial, perfumes and lotions). And when you travel you bring the whole damn case.

[Philosoraptor]

1. True, & water & milk can't be mixed with anything to make a bomb

neither can cosmetics, so this whole thing is an excercise in hysteria.

[malaise]

4. Bingo

It makes no fugging sense.

[ikojo]

11. It makes no sense but it helps Bush's poll

numbers and reigns in the press (like it needed reigning in) and it mollifies the Democrats.

[calico1]

2. The other thing I was thinking..

If you are drinking out of your water bottle or applying your lipstick or you open your bottle of eyedrops and put a few in your eyes, doesn't that kind of show it's not explosive? You are applying it or ingesting it. Wouldn't common sense tell you that?

[madokie]

5. I guess common sense doesn't figure in

[TalkingDog]

6. No, not if you are going to die in a few hours anyway.

I agree that lipstick and eye-drops would not do a lot of damage to a plane if they contained the materials discussed. However, if a person knows s/he is going to die within a few hours, they are not going to care if they ingest a tiny bit of material by way of making the container look innocuous.

Yes, there was and will be over reaction. Remember the kid who had the tiny toy gun taken off his G.I. Joe that grandma bought him because it was a GUN?

Remember all the nail clippers and pencils and push pins and knitting needles and so on and so forth that were taken in response to 9/11? If you don't see the parallels then your life will be not only very interesting, but most likely continually shocking.

[pooja]

13. Yes, but I do object to the whole tasting my breast milk to prove

that my body isn't explosive.

[malaise]

3. I will not travel on a single flight

if I have to throw away my essentials. No government official on this planet who fails to make airports secure is going to succeed in making me pay for their fugging incompetence. This is beyond a violation of rights - this digs deep into our pockets. Further, what happens to diabetics who travel with food for long flights? EfuggingNOUGH!

Expect one hell of a backlash from this one from both the public and the Duty Free shops.

[Norrin Radd]

7. It's all about fear-mongering and control.

And they are ruining air travel. One would be reluctant to carry pricey items, like the cosmetics you mentioned, or electronics, because we aren't allowed to secure our checked baggage, nor are we allowed to bring it onboard. They want to turn everyone into worry-worts, because it makes people susceptible to influence. I thought we were made of sterner stuff.

[kentuck]

8. They should be reimbursed by the airlines...

They threw away a lot of expensive products...needlessly.

[Divernan]

9. Either stupidity or calculated overreaction to freak out the public

Your comments about factory sealed items also applies to perfumes, wines & liquors from duty free shops at the airports, and bottles of water/toiletries purchased within the secure areas of the airports. Now since this plot has been known about for some time, it's not as though officials were forced to make split-second decisions on how to increase protections from "liquids".

I hope someone calculates the financial costs to our airports, airlines & the shops/stores therein from this outrageously expensive unfunded federal government "terraism" mandate.

I'm thankful I had just finished my last scheduled long/vacation flight for the year (and replensihed my Couvosier/Bailey's at the duty free shops). I still have to fly short trips once a month for family matters - but no more than 1.5 hrs. air time. Everyone has always been advised to carry their prescription meds in carry-on luggage, in case their checked luggage is lost or delayed. Now I can't use my handy-dandy weekly pill dispenser, because you have to have the meds in the original labeled prescription bottle. Since I get my meds in 90 day amounts, I have to take these larger bottles along - in itself not a big deal, but one more cumulative and needless irritation.

AND STILL NO ONE SCANS OR CHECKS THE CARGO SHIPPED IN THESE SAME PASSENGER AIRLINES ! ! !

And our fatcat corporate types are flying in private jets with no security hassles, and giving "free" rides to the politicians.

[soothsayer]

10. Can't a factory seal be faked? And what about the return trip?

[Divernan]

14. These items are purchased within the secure area of the airports.

These shops are accessible only to people who have already gone through the security checkpoints, and the products are sold by legitimate shops operating within the secure area.

As to the return trip, I don't know why anyone would buy duty free items on the outbound portion of a trip, and therefore have to schlep them around on their whole trip. You buy stuff duty free on the return part of your trip, unless you're getting maybe liquor or perfume to use on your trip. But if you did buy something on the outbound leg of your trip, you would have to bring them back through security again, and you would know you couldn't get liquids through there, sealed or unsealed.

[yasmina27]

12. I've seen products

that look just like the real items, but have hidden compartments. These objects are used by kids in school to hide their secrets caches of drugs.

3 yrs. ago, I took 100 7th and 8th graders to Quebec. In Quebec City, they found a paraphernalia shop and bought a 16 oz. bottle of Pepsi with a false bottom. The cap was sealed and it was filled with liquid (maybe it was actually Pepsi - we didn't try it). We also found a yellow highlighter marker - looked like one you could buy at any office supply store - that pulled apart at the end to reveal the small hideaway. It actually worked - we tried it - so making someone use an item as proof of it being real wouldn't necessarily work. For the remainder of the trip, we had chaperones stake out the store any time the kids had free time to shop. I was amazed at the things they sold, including a bottle of water that looked like the real thing.

So the fact is that I'm sure just about ANY product can be made to have a hiding space. So what do we do? Train the TSA persons what to look for - for one thing. The only reason we found the Pepsi and highlighter was that just one week earlier, we sat through an inservice session in which the police showed us slides of items they had found on drug busts. So when we found these items, we knew just what to look for.

[hedgehog]

15. The goal is to eliminate cover.

Explosives can't be camouflaged as make-up, eye drops, water etc. if no make-up, eye drops, water etc. is carried on the plane. It's akin to avoiding getting mugged. If someone is out to mug a stranger, he/she'll find a way. That doesn't mean we make it easier by hanging out in dark allies.

[TreasonousBastard]

16. It's stupid, but...

TSA types in airports from Hawaii to Maine aren't going to test every bottle and jar for two million passengers a day.

By now, everyone should know to just stick everything in a checked bag.

I'm not flying anywhere soon, but it would be interesting to see how the "no carryon" works. I swear I spent more time waiting for people stowing and unstowing huge packs in the overheads than I ever spent at a baggage carousel.

[watercolors]

17. My pet peeve too, waiting for people to store carry ons.

Just eliminate them! I can put most things i need in a large purse, rest in my suitcase. It sure would move lines along a lot quicker. The stupidity of what they are doing now will eventually make a big outcry and they will figure out how dumb they are.