DrinkSavvy technology detects date rape drugs in drinks
A company called DrinkSavvy has developed a range of plastic cups and straws that can detect whether a date rape drug has been slipped into a drink.
The plastic cups and straws change colour when the presence of the three main date rape drugs – GHB, Rohypnol or Ketamine – are detected.
The founder of DrinkSavvy, Michael Abramson, began a successful $50,000 Indiegogo campaign for the technology and will start shipping plastic straws and cups next month.
“With the help of Dr. John MacDonald, a professor of chemistry at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and with the help of Contract Reaserching Organisations, DrinkSavvy is developing material that will immediately change colour to warn you if a drug is slipped into your drink,” said Abramson.
Abramson, a former engineering student, was inspired to create the technology after he became a victim of the date rape drug when out with his friends.
“Within the past three year, three of my close friends, and myself, have been the unwitting victims of consuming an odourless, colourless, and tasteless drug slipped into our drink,” said Abramson. “With over a million estimated victims every year, chances are that someone close to you has had a similar experience, but together, we can prevent it from happening to anyone else.”
DrinkSavvy is looking to expand the line of DrinkSavvy products to the public in 2014, hoping to introduce the technology to colleges to help rape prevention.
“The problem is that date rape drugs are odourless, colourless and tasteless once they’re in your drink. We all know not to leave our drinks unattended, but the reality is that it’s impossible to keep an eye on your drink all night.”
Abramson and the rest of the DrinkSavvy team are still looking for funding for the products to perfect its prototypes and designs, with an aim of eventually introducing the product to the whole world.
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Via: Indiegogo
