Global Security Newswire

Scientists at Columbia University in New York have built an experimental blood-testing machine intended to measure radiation levels for as many as 30,000 people each day in the aftermath of a potential radiological "dirty bomb" attack, the New York Times reported yesterday (see GSN, April 27).

The Rapid Automated Biodosimetry Tool, developed at the university's Center for Radiological Research, was designed to determine an individual's level of radiation exposure by examining chromosomes in a blood sample small enough to obtain from a pinprick to the finger. Such a test would be necessary to assess what medical treatment to provide any possible victim.

Today, blood samples must be drawn from an arm and sent to a facility for manual analysis. “In the best of circumstances, you could do only a few hundred people a day, even with many labs involved,” said David Brenner, a radiation biophysics professor who heads the research office.

If the U.S. Food and Drug Administration endorses the new blood-testing device following a vetting period that could extend past three years, defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. would be expected to begin producing a smaller version of the system.

The center was also working on a second radiation measurement involving blood samples and a third that tests urine. The U.S. National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases has granted Brenner's team $25 million since 2005 for the work.

The May 1 attempt to detonate a bomb in New York City's Times Square drew attention to the project's importance (see GSN, June 22).

“The concern is that it’s not that hard to manufacture a dirty bomb,” Brenner said. “Basically you just need to get some radioactive materials" that would be dispersed through use of conventional explosives.

A means of rapidly assessing radiation exposure would help reduce public anxiety in the wake of a radiological strike, Brenner added.

“The last thing you want is somebody like me going on TV and saying, ‘Don’t panic,’ because everyone will panic,” he said. “The idea is to have some physical test that you can give individuals whereby you can demonstrate what their radiation exposure really is. Most people will get almost no dose."

A midsize radiological attack would produce noteworthy radiation levels “only within only a few hundred yards of an actual event, and possibly less,” he said. A larger radiological dispersal device could harm individuals miles from the detonation site.

"The bad guys want to create disruption and panic. If you can fight that by reassuring people, then you have defeated the goals of the terrorists," Brenner said.

A 1987 release of radioactive cesium in Goiania, Brazil, prompted 130,000 people to flood into hospitals. Only 250 people were found to be contaminated, and only 20 people needed treatment for radiation sickness.

“So the lesson from that is you need triage,” Brenner said. “You need to be able to figure out who actually needs treatment, and those are the sort of numbers from a dirty bomb that you might expect — one in 10,000 might need treatment.”

After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the New York City Police Department strengthened its efforts to prepare for an attack incorporating radioactive materials. The department has equipped close to 2,000 officers with hand-held radiation sensors, and it possesses additional ground-based and airborne equipment for detecting weapons, spokesman Paul Browne said (Lisa Foderaro, New York Times, July 8).