Scent of a man: Odor-killing machine for hunters may aid terrorists
A Texas-based company has developed a device for hunters which eliminates human odor, thus allowing hunters to get much closer to their prey unnoticed; trouble is, the same device may be used by terrorists to destroy the odor of explosives, thus allowing them to evade bomb-sniffing dogs at airports
Would-be homicide bombers looking to evade the keen noses of bomb-sniffing dogs can simply buy a cheap, odor-destroying machine available at any hunting store. There, for about $300, they can buy a compact ozone machine that hunters use to mask human smells. It is a fairly low-tech device that will enable them to walk undetected past the K-9 units stationed to sniff out explosives at airports, train stations and bus depots.
Foxnews’s Jana Winter writes that recent tests run by the FBI and New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department in collaboration with a private security company concluded that the inexpensive ozone machines have the potential to mask explosives completely.
The results of the tests, a summary of which was dated 7 April, were included in a Canadian intelligence report obtained by FoxNews.com. “Preliminary testing on odor mitigating devices — instruments that have the capability to eliminate human, explosives, and drug odors — reveals vulnerabilities to U.S. explosives discovery capabilities,” the report states. “FBI field office, private security company, and Rail Transit Authority tests have determined that odor mitigating devices have the potential to completely mask explosives odors from canine detection.”
Although there is no current information indicating any imminent threat, criminal groups, such as drug traffickers and terrorists, may seek out odor mitigation devices for operational use, such as concealment and transportation of illegal drugs or explosives. This is based on historical patterns of interest in concealment techniques and the low cost and wide proliferation of mitigation devices
Ozone eliminates odors by destroying — not masking — bacteria, germs and viruses. The use of ozone in heavy-duty cleaning products is nothing new, but a Texas-based company called Ozonics, which was founded by a group of hunters, has changed the game by making an ozone device portable, according to the intelligence report.
“Eliminating human scent is one of the most important factors in successful hunting,” the company’s Web site says. “With Ozonics’ new product, the HR-100 (Hunting Revolution 100), hunters can productively hunt game without animal detection. Field tests reveal that elk, deer and hogs approached within five feet of a properly camouflaged hunter downwind without detecting the hunter’s scent. No special clothing. No cover sprays. No scents.”
The device measures 8 3/4 x 4 7/8 x 3 3/8 inches, weighs about 5 pounds and comes in its own camouflaged-patterned bag. It’s perfectly legal, and it’s sold in hunting stores across the country; there are
