Battle Of The Biowarfare Sniffers
Law enforcement agencies have not been able to find the perpetrators responsible for the anthrax attacks that emerged in the wake of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
However, authorities may have a better chance to prevent future germ warfare attacks now that companies are racing to develop tools that can detect traces of biological and chemical agents in buildings, packages, and water supplies.
Bio Threat Alert Test Strips, which “work like a pregnancy test” for examining samples of suspect power, according to Alexeter Technologies’ technical sales specialist Todd Burke, are already available.
In January or February, Smiths Detection Edgewood will unveils its BioSeeq Hand-held PCR Detector, a device that can deliver results on samples in about 20 minutes.
Nonetheless, the ideal biological and chemical detection tool appears to be a system that works similar to a smoke detector. However, Burke says such a system, one that can be installed by someone who is technologically untrained and would sound an alarm, is years away. Indeed, the methods used to sample air and water would need to become faster and simpler.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Small Times (12/02) Vol. 2, No. 6, P. 10; Frauenfelder, Mark .
