I'm going to play devil's advocate for a minute here, because frankly the current media panic frenzy is doing exactly what any terrorist could want. They cause mass hysteria in the US without having to do anything.

The whole idea that duct tape and plastic wrap are going to keep people safe is laughable. Let's try to look at this logically for a moment.

1. Regardless of what the media tells us, it is far more probable that any attacks against the US will be conventional, not a bio, chemical or rad weapon. Look at history. Heck, look at Israel. They have been subject to constant terror attacks in the past 3 decades, and most if not all have been conventional explosives or gunfire attacks. WMD require alot of specialized skills and setup and are expensive. With the exception of bio attacks you get relatively little bang for your buck. Although 9/11 was very impressive, it was not a WMD attack, nor was the previous attack on the WTC. The likelihood is that a terrorist attack will involve an explosive device of some kind, like a carbomb, etc.

2. In the event of a bio attack it is very likely that by the time it is discovered you will already be exposed if you were going to be. Once it has been discovered, duct tape and plastic wrap aren't going to help you much if at all. Then it is up to the public health system to contain the problem.

3. If it is a chemical attack it is most likely to be relatively small in scale and in an enclosed, well populated area for maximum effectiveness. Like the sarin attack in the Japanese subway. And even then the terrorists didn't manage to use it to it's maximum effectiveness. Chemical clouds tend to disperse rapidly when exposed to atmospheric conditions. If you are not in the initially affected area then you will likely not be affected. Duct tape and plastic wrap isn't going to help much in that instance either.

4. In the event of a radiological dispersion device, there is hardly any health hazard to begin with unless you are affected by the initial explosion. Such an attack is mainly used to scare people and cause large cleanup costs. Previous incidents with radioactive contamination have shown that the main problem is a terrified populous overwhelming health care facilities for absolutely no reason. If you are talking about an actual nuclear device and you are in the blast radius, then you can bet that that duct tape isn't going to do you much good. An actual nuclear device is probably the least likely of all WMD attacks (in case your placing bets).

So you see, attempting to make preparations for a WMD attack is not very practical except in very specific circumstance that most if not all of us will never have to deal with.

Now that is not to say that you shouldn't prepare for a regular emergency with regards to having food and water supplies, flashlights, blankets, and all the other stuff we normally talk about here. Those are useful tools for many different kinds of emergencies, including the theoretical WMD attack. But buying lots of duct tape and creating positive presure rooms in your home with air filtration and radiation meters is pretty rediculous.

If by some poor chance you happen to be the victim of a WMD attack, as in near ground zero, then your preparations aren't going to help you much anyway.

Although I wasn't around yet during the nuclear war histeria of the 50's and 60's, I would guess that our country's current reaction is fairly similar. Fear is a powerful motivator. All of us on this forum desire to be prepared for any circumstance we may encounter, but there are things for which preparation may be counterproductive.

Sorry if this got long, but the hysteria in this country is getting out of hand, no thanks to our leadership.

Greg