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Heat Gun Gets Wacky Warning Awards

Posted on: Friday, 6 January 2006, 15:00 CST

DETROIT - A reminder that a heat gun and paint remover that produces temperatures of 1,000 degrees isn't a good hair dryer is the nation's wackiest warning label, an anti-lawsuit group says.

The label reads: "Do not use this tool as a hair dryer" and was identified by Tom Brunelle of the southwestern Michigan community of Holland. Brunelle will receive $500 as a reward for tracking down the seemingly obvious warning.

The Wacky Warning Label Contest, in its ninth year, is conducted by Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch as part of an effort to show the effects of lawsuits - and concern about lawsuits - on warnings.

"When judges see it as their job to dismiss cases that are rooted in frivolous theories, we'll see fewer wacky labels and more fairness in the courts," Robert B. Dorigo Jones, the group's president, said in a statement this week.

The group turned a list of finalists over to listeners of the Dick Purtan show on WOMC-FM in Detroit, which picked the top three.

For his find, Brunelle also will get a copy of the book "The Death of Common Sense" by Philip K. Howard.

A $250 second prize award goes to Jam Sardar of Grand Rapids for a label on a kitchen knife that warns: "Never try to catch a falling knife."

A $100 third prize goes to Alice Morgan of La Junta, Colo. She found a warning on a cocktail napkin with a map of the waterways around Hilton Head Island, S.C., printed on it that read: "Not to be used for navigation."

An honorable mention went to Kirk Dunham of Seabrook, Texas. He found a warning on a bottle of dried bobcat urine used to keep pests away from garden plants that said: "Not for human consumption."

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On the Net:

Wacky Warning Label Contest: http://www.wackywarnings.com

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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