Nexus - 0225 - New Times Magazine-pages

Page Content (OCR)

... GLOBAL NEWS ... NEWS HIGH-TECH GUNS AND DRUGS DETECTION Sometime in 1995, a handful of police officers will take a three-pound device that looks something like a video camera, point it at a suspect 50 feet away, and see whether his or her pockets hold a gun, a knife or car keys. The most promising of this new range of devices is the electromagnetic wave imager. This device relies on natural elec- tromagnetic radiation given off by virtually all objects. The human body is a good emitter of radiation, most of which falls between microwaves and infrared on the spectrum. The Contraband Detection System (CDS), as it is called by Massachusetts- based Millitech, can show the radiation images on a small video display terminal and will cost around USD$10,000 per unit. (Source: Leading Edge #79, February 1995) bags, carpets, synthetic textiles and, soon, car interiors. This is because smells sell. Isabelle Gourdon, a perfume buyer with Unilever, says: "Perfumes have become an essential tool in persuading people to buy. A washing powder is a washing powder. If you buy Skip rather than Ariel, it is often solely because of its fragrance." Manufacturers develop an "olfactory logo" that identifies each product. "Now that marketing departments have exploited every audiovisual angle, they are looking into the potential of smells," says Jacques- Marie Decazes, director of applied research with the perfume company Givaudan- Roure. Marc Pougalan, marketing director of the Swiss perfume company Firmenich, fears that things may get out of hand. "There's no reason why we should systematically odorise places that don't smell particularly nasty. It may put people off." (Source: The Guardian Weekly, w/e 26 February 1995) out a massive electronic pulse, enters struc- tures through a slight crack or seam and overloads a single critical element, making electronic systems useless. (It has been heavily studied by Australians.) * Anti-Mobility Weapons: Super com- pounds dropped to melt rubber tyres, or gases that can stop vehicle engines or tum fuel into a useless gel. ¢ Mind-Control Weapons: Discovered in Moscow in 1991 and believed to have been used by the Soviets in Afghanistan. Computer equipment produces lights and a succession of words to send subliminal messages and influence individuals and groups. (Source: The Weekly Telegraph #184, 25-31 January 1995) MORE FDA RAIDS FDA agents raided a Grand Island, Nebraska, analytical laboratory, Independent Testing Labs, Inc., seizing USD$55,000 in vitamins. The search war- rant obtained by the FDA gave permission to seize all records and equipment of the company. The owner of the lab told Citizens for Health, "they cleaned me out; they even took my wife's medication for her heart and our personal vitamins". In another raid, this time backed up by the FBI, the FDA raided the Bio- Mechanics Clinic & Health Store in Aberdeen, Idaho. As with the case in Nebraska, "they pretty much wiped out our clinic", according to one employee. Included in the seizure were all herbal for- mulations. (Source: Townsend Letter for Doctors, April 1995) UN TAKES CONTROL OF SEED BANKS Readers may recall a NEXUS Global News item in vol.2#22 (Oct-Nov '94) about the battle to stop the World Bank taking control of the world's genetic seed research centres. This move, which would have effectively put control of the global food supply direct- ly into the hands of bankers, was causing great concern among the international com- munity. In November 1994, however, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation took charge of twelve international seed banks in a move intended to ensure that the col- lection remains open to all researchers. (Source: New Scientist, 5 November 1994) ELECTRONIC FINGERPRINTING FOR US DRIVER'S LICENCES? A recent issue of The Olympian detailed testimony being taken by the Senate Law and Justice Committee in Washington State, on a bill that would require drivers to be electronically fingerprinted before they can get a driver's licence. Under the pro- posal, magnetic strips with an electronic fingerprint scan would be placed on all licences and identification cards. Under the proposal, welfare recipients and those confined to state nursing homes are all required to be fingerprinted and issued with licences. (Source: The Olympian, 18 January 1995) SUBLIMINAL SMELLS ADVERTISING For several months, the oil company Total has been selling four-star petrol that smells not of petrol but of vanilla, and diesel with a "fruity fragrance". Esso has opted for strawberry. But that's not all: some financial estab- lishments are trying to reproduce a classy club atmosphere by filling their premises with an artificial smell of leather. Now that certain banks have taken to making their customers’ cheque-books smell sweet, it can no longer be said that money has no smell. Nowadays, everything has to smell pleasant—not just toilet-descaling agents, paint and paper handkerchiefs, but even products that do not normally smell of any- thing at all, such as toys, vacuum cleaner APRIL - MAY 1995 NEXUS ¢ 7