User:Auric/Flubber (product)

Flubber ("Roobly Rubber” and “Plubber”) is the name of a product created by Hassenfeld Brothers (now Hasbro) to promote the release of Son of Flubber. However, some people proved to be allergic to it and it was recalled.

History
The material was made from a 70:30 ratio of partially polymerized synthetic rubber (butadiene) and mineral oil. It behaved much like Silly Putty. It was marketed as nontoxic and non-staining. It was introduced in September 1962. However complaints began to come in from parents that it was causing rashes in children, dubbed "flubberitis". Experiments on prisoners revealed that the oil caused an allergy in the hair follicles of some people. The company issued a voluntary recall on May 17, 1963, which netted over 3 million balls.

The company attempted to have them incinerated in a Providence, Rhode Island incinerator, but the material proved difficult to burn, producing thick clouds of black smoke. Disposal in a landfill was tried, but kids began stealing the balls from the dump. They tried to dump them in a New England lake, but the balls floated. Eventually they flattened and sealed them in an area near a factory in Providence, paving the area over to make a warehouse parking lot, supposedly at 60 Delta Drive in Pawtucket.

However, the Flubber can reportedly be seen occasionally in the cracks of the parking lot.