63 People Who Won A “Lifetime Supply” Of Something Are Sharing What It Was Actually Like

5.

“In the early ’70s, my mother was on the game show Sale of the Century. She won, among other things, a lifetime supply of Scotchgard. For those who don’t recall, Scotchgard was a magical spray from 3M that you could apply to any fabric to make it waterproof, spill-proof, and thus stain-proof. Spray it on the couch, the rug, that treasured satin throw pillow, and no need to worry about stains anymore!”

“So what constitutes a lifetime supply of this stuff? How much could one human possibly use in a lifetime? Maybe six cans? Ten? The answer was: a closetful. In fact, growing up, I didn’t know my Mom had once been on a game show. I only knew that we had a closet that was stacked floor to ceiling with nothing but Scotch-gard.

“As such, we would liberally Scotch-gard anything we could get our hands on. Definitely the couch, rug, and satin throw pillows. Also, curtains, napkins, and the cat. Really, anything with even a semi-permeable surface would be Scotch-garded. If there were ever a spill on the linoleum floor, we’d spray it. If a kid got a boo-boo, we’d spray it. We sprayed literally everything with Scotch-gard.

I’ve been telling this story for years as a funny anecdote. Then a year or so ago, it occurred to me…what was in that stuff, anyway? Why did they discontinue it? It wasn’t one of those chemicals they later found out caused cancer or something…was it?

In fact, it was. It contained PFOS, which is a whole other topic, but it is a chemical known to cause birth defects and cancer, and they even made a good movie about it starring Mark Ruffalo as a tenacious attorney who fights the companies that pollute with this stuff…the same stuff that we sprayed our entire house, pets, and family with for years.

Eventually, the lifetime supply ran out. Thankfully!”

—Marcus, Quora