BOMB-MAKER'S BREATH

How cool is this?

TERRORIST bomb makers beware: your bad breath may catch you out. A portable breathalyser has been developed that can detect traces of chemicals found in explosives when they are exhaled by people who have handled them.

The device, called Heartsbreath, was developed by Michael Phillips and colleagues at Menssana Research in Fort Lee, New Jersey. It was originally intended for medical diagnosis, using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to analyse volatile organic markers in the breath, and has already been used to detect early-stage lung cancer. Last year it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for detecting heart transplant rejection.

Because chemicals from explosives can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin and stored in body tissue, Phillips wondered whether the technology could help either convict or acquit terror suspects.

He tested people who handled explosives as part of their daily work and found that they exhaled a range of plasticisers and other volatile compounds that were not exhaled by people who hadn't been in contact with explosives. He also breathalysed people before and after giving them samples of explosives to handle, including TNT, dynamite and C-4.

The excerpt above is from an article at New Scientist.