UNDT provides anthrax detection gear to Beijing Olympics

Universal Detection Technology Receives and Completes Contract to Provide Anthrax/Bioterrorism Detection Equipment for the 2008 Beijing Olympics

As debate continues about how definitive is the U.S. government’s evidence pointing to Bruce Ivins as the 2001 anthrax atacks perpetrator, other countries are taking measure to watch for any possible anthrax attack. Universal Detection Technology reports that it has received a contract to provide handheld assays for bioterrorism detection for the 2008 Beijing Olympic games which open today. The company has already fulfilled the contract and delivered the equipment to Beijing. The handheld devices are designed to detect anthrax, ricin, botulinum toxin, plague, and SEBs in as little as three Minutes. “The contract for the bioterrorism detection kits comes on the heels of our contract to provide radiation detection equipment for the Olympics,” said Jacques Tizabi, UNDT’s CEO. “We are proud to have contributed to the safety of the Olympics games,” he added.

Bioterror experts warn that an attack is only going to become easier to launch as the same work that has spawned countless new biotech medical treatments continues to advance. “Unfortunately, there’s going to be a dark side,” says Randall Larsen, Director of the Institute for Homeland Security, a Virginia-based think tank. The biotech revolution, he said, is making it “easier for non-state actors to develop sophisticated bioweapons.”

UNDT’s 5-agent bioterrorism detection kits have been used by first responders and private industry. The company says that testing of the kits by the U.S. and U.K. militaries show that the kits show no cross-reactivity with near neighbor species and no false positives with commonly encountered “white powders.”