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Coming Soon: 10-Minute Test for Suspicious Powders
The U.S. Justice Department’s Center for Domestic Preparedness is overseeing a project that could soon enable emergency responders, armed with a field test kit costing about $10, to identify mysterious white substances within 10 minutes, the Anniston (Ala.) Star reported (see GSN, Feb. 7, 2003). A rapid test has been sought since the 2001 anthrax mail attacks, after which laboratories were overwhelmed by requests to identify unknown powders, the Star reported. All suspected biological agents are still required to be analyzed in a government laboratory, according to the Star. However, the test, which has a 99-percent accuracy rate in laboratories, could allow local agencies to assess the severity of potential biological incidents more quickly. An efficient, effective field test would be particularly beneficial in identifying hoaxes, local health officials said. “It would be great in savings of manpower and money,” said Calhoun County, Ala., Public Health Department administrator Donald Bain. “Now, if you find it, you have to assume for everyone’s safety that it’s dangerous until proven otherwise,” he added. The field test would use some common items such as protein and pH strips, a vial and instruments that are basically spoons, according to the Star (Nathan Solheim, Anniston Star/Tuscaloosa News, June 24).
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