Researchers from Portugal and Spain have developed a bracelet that allows you to detect the presence of drug submission drugs in beverage in seconds – a preventive system that can be used at events to avoid attempts at violation.
A Portugal was created in Portugal bracelet second “Drugs of Violation” in drinks.
“We can use this bracelet as a method of protection and make a concert, festival or disco be a free place, because people can protect themselves with this system,” said the project coordinator in Portugal Carlos Lodeiro.
The researcher at the Faculty of Science and Technology of the New University of Lisbon (Nova FCT) explained, to Lusa, that this sensor, incorporated into a paper bracelet, reacts directly to any drink that has one of the three “violation drugs”:
- a GHBthe cheapest and easiest to get;
- a Buraundaimported from Latin America;
- e and catinonas.
According to Carlos Lodeiro, in the case of GHB, the most used in cases of chemical submission, it is a drug that, a few hours after ingestion, “cannot be detected in urine, blood and saliva”, and therefore a necessary one is necessary “Quick device that detects” your presence.
“It is immediate and serves as a preventive and deterrent method,” he said.
GHB is a substance that has been used in medicine as anesthetic in the past, causing a “person to be unable to react” and also suffers an episode of Amnesia, a few hours after its ingestion.
If there is drug, bracelet turns green
Noting that this substance has no smell, color or taste, the researcher said that with the new bracelet, “someone who goes to a disco, a festival to an outdoor concert and who wants to test any drink before its consumption, Just touch with the straw in the bracelet ”and check if there is a color change to green.
The project developed in collaboration with the University of Valencia and the company Celebentis has already led to a joint patent and scientific articles and the researchers are now working in a system that allows this sensor to be considered a forensic test, in cases of eventual crimes.
Lodeiro gave the example of the Autonomous Community of Valencia, in southern Spain, which researchers consider it to be a prototype laboratory, where “there was a very large descent of violation cases and attempted violation ”from at least half of the cases.
The investigation team is in contact with authorities, so that the bracelet can be recognized as a legal evidence, but also with municipalities and events promoting events in Portugal to be integrated into awareness and prevention campaigns.
Bracelet already available
According to the investigator of Nova, this bracelet is already marketed in Spain and can be acquired in Portugal on the startup website.
The intention is that it can also be made available through the organizers of events or public entities, such as city councils.
“Our goal is to have a simple, accessible and effective tool to prevent crimes of sexual abuse, especially in contexts where people are most vulnerable, such as nightclubs, bars or festivals,” concluded the professor at the New FCT Department of Chemistry.
