A Mysterious Company Claims to Sell Sneeze-Filled Tissues for $80. Is It Real?

The package appeared one day, unbidden, on the desk of a TIME writer. Inside was a slick white box that housed a petri dish sealed with gold tape. In the dish was a crumpled tissue—and inside the tissue were, allegedly, the germs of a sick person who had sneezed into it.

Vaev Tissue, the only product of a new startup based in Los Angeles, costs $79.99, according to the company's website. Its sole purpose is to give the user a cold virus.

The package appeared one day, unbidden, on the desk of a TIME writer. Inside was a slick white box that housed a petri dish sealed with gold tape. In the dish was a crumpled tissue—and inside the tissue were, allegedly, the germs of a sick person who had sneezed into it. Vaev Tissue, the only product of a new startup based in Los Angeles, costs $79.99, according to the company's website. Its sole purpose is to give the user a cold virus.