Endust

  Endust is a dusting aid produced by Sara Lee Corporation. A dusting aid is sprayed on a dustcloth or dustmop, rather than directly on the furniture.

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Originally, endust consisted of odorless mineral spirits and 1,1,1-trichloroethane with a propellant blend of butane and isopropane. The Montreal Protocol targeted 1,1,1-trichloroethane as one of those compounds responsible for ozone depletion and banned its use beginning in 1996. Since then, its manufacture and use has been phased out throughout most of the world.

It's not clear whether huffing endust is, or has ever been, a common form of drug abuse, but endust is commonly listed as an inhalant. Although not as toxic as many chlorinated solvents, inhaled 1,1,1-trichloroethane or Difluoroethane does act as a central nervous system depressant and can cause effects similar to those of intoxication, including dizziness, confusion, and in sufficiently high concentrations, unconsciousness and death.

Roger Blackwell Ph. D., of the Fisher College of Business says that Harry Drackett invented endust. In the 1970s, however, the Drackett company offered a one-page company history indicating that they purchased the endust product from a small company in Chicago.

The Federal Trade Commission allowed S. C. Johnson & Son to purchase Drackett in 1992, provided that they divested themselves of certain Drackett product lines within one year. Sara Lee bought endust and Behold at that time.

• FTC order