El Paso-America's Sweatiest City

Freakish things and people are plentiful--all over the world.

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co. has learned the hard way how to alienate a city -- dub it the sweatiest in the country.

Residents of El Paso, Texas, including the city's mayor, said a new study by P&G product Old Spice deodorant calling it the sweatiest U.S. city is all wet. The annual study published Tuesday said the average El Paso resident produced more than 36 fluid ounces of sweat per hour on a typical summer day. But Friday P&G said the study had been wrong in saying the city's average humidity was 70 percent, and that instead it was a much drier 36 percent.

"One can only hope P&G uses more care with figures when coming up with formulas for its products," the El Paso Times said in an editorial Friday.

"We enjoy over 300 sunny days a year with a very dry, temperate climate," said El Paso Mayor Joe Wardy, who is donating to charity what P&G said it is giving him for his city's dubious honor -- a year's supply of antiperspirant. "We were recently ranked as one of the seven best cities to retire in. Every one here knows that this publicity stunt is not based on good science."

P&G spokesman Brent Miller said accurate data were used to get the sweat rankings and El Paso was still tops.

"El Paso is a great city and we're not detracting from that," Miller said. "Sweating is something that people do to stay cool."