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Outfitting terrorStore offers homeland security devices
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Nervous high-rise workers and dwellers, relax. Worried parents, take heart. Bosses fretting about office security, fret no more. Security from terror is no further than a mouse-click and credit card away. A retail store and Web site claiming to be the first specializing in homeland security preparedness products opened Thursday in Manhattan, just a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. Safer America claims it is the first to sell survival gear for nuclear, biological, or chemical attacks all in one place: a one-stop shop for biohazard suits, potassium iodide pills, radiation detectors and parachutes for jumping out of burning high-rise buildings. Other businesses sell many of these products, often via the Internet, and Army-Navy surplus stores have sold some of the basic equipment for years. But Safer America claims it is the first to make advanced protective devices, as well as training exercises, available through a storefront. "No one will leave Safer America or saferamerica.com without a significant amount of training into what it is they are purchasing," said Harvey Kushner, president of Safer America. The company, he said in a Thursday news conference, "sells legitimate products to make you feel safe and empowered." Not everyone who saw the store open accepted its sales pitch.
"I think they are playing on the fear and the hysteria of our country, which is sad," said Bobby Scafidel of New Orleans, Louisiana, as he stood outside the store examining merchandise inside. "You know we ought to be more upbeat and confident and feel like we can combat this thing without going to that extreme." The store's products are not foolproof, Kushner said. "We'll never say to you that we can protect you 100 percent of the time. We make no such claims about that. Neither does law enforcement. Neither does even the military. What we say is we can empower you in a variety of situations and add an extra layer of safety to what is a risk situation." Empowerment is not cheap. For example, Safer America offers a "high-rise kit" that contains a parachute, body suit, special gloves and booties, and flashlight, among other safety offerings. Price? $945. Or consider some of the contents in the "family 2 kit," designed for two adults and one child. For $955, the family gets two escape hoods, a child protective wrap, two adult-sized protective suits, flashlight, and gloves and booties. Corporations that want to protect their employees are likely to want what Safer America offers, said Jerome Glazebrook, president of Hill and Associates, a terror management consulting firm. He attended the news conference on behalf of the store. "I think now there are liability concerns and concerns of employers to be able to provide at least the basic level of preventive measures in the workplace," Glazebrook said. "They have a responsibility to anticipate and plan in order to do that. And I think a store like this would give them access and also not only access to the equipment but also professional advice."
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