Published Wednesday by the American Chemical Society (ACS), the study from Korean researchers developed a multicoloured temporary tattoo that reacts to the presence of GHB, a compound described as “commonly associated with drug-facilitated sexual assault.”
According to the study, the chemicals in the tattoo can detect concentrations of GHB in beer, liquor or coffee, changing colour from yellow to red in order to alert the wearer that their beverage may have been spiked.
“In practice, a wearer could dip a finger into a beverage, touch the drop to the sticker and see the result almost immediately,” the release reads.
The newly developed tattoos not only allow the users to test their drinks discreetly, but also act far faster than some older tests, delivering results in less than a second, rather than minutes.
Researchers also say the results last for up to a month, which can help preserve evidence of suspected tampering.
Also direct link to ACS
Ha, this was invented by a fanfiction character years ago, except it was nail polish instead of a temporary tattoo. https://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-30822-90 :
Hermione volunteered that there were chemicals which could detect the presence of most of the ‘date rape’ drugs, but Pansy scoffed, “Oh, and we just carry a dozen bottles of liquids in our purse and perform complicated tests on every drink we every get?”
That was a really good point. Hermione found her lips were pursing up as she thought it over. “I think… I could come up with a chemical you could put in a nail polish that would change the colour of your polish if exposed to benzodiazepines. So all you’d have to do would be to swirl your drink around with the tip of your index finger and then casually glance over to see if your nail polish was changing colour.”
That was met with a second of dead silence… And then the room exploded and everyone including Pet was begging her for a sample. Even Lady Pansy. Perhaps Hermione wasn’t going to the right clubs – or in this case the wrong clubs – but she hadn’t dreamed there would be that kind of demand for such a thing.
Granted, Hermione didn’t go out at night to any clubs, not even with her friends back home.
She actually makes the stuff later in the story.
Nail polish such as that has existed IRL.
They can detect GHB now? Cool, only 10-20 years after it fell out of favor as a date rape drug
What do people use now? Couldn’t be ex or Molly. Xanax? Idk I’m still in 1991.
Benzos are about 5x more common than GHB in date rape cases from what I found. Best I can tell is GHB is about half as common as it used to be. Not super common, but ketamine and z drugs are used. Could even be dumping extra shots into drinks.
Benzodiazepines s makes the most sense, solely from an availability perspective. Lots of people have benzo scritps, not so many doctors handing out GHB
Dam is there something that detects benzos? You should post if you know a method. Anyways TY have a nice day!!!
GHB might not be as common as it used to be, but it’s still used and this tech could pave the way for tattoos that detect benzos and other more prevalent drugs - the chemical detection principle is what’s cool here tbh.
This feels like a a product in search of a market rather than a product designed to solve a problem. I mean yeah it’s a cool thing but realistically do they expect people to buy (or be given) these temporary tattoos, remember to apply them before a night out, and then subtly drip bits of their drinks on their skin before drinking them to avoid getting drugged? Do the tattoos actually stay on during a night of dancing and sweating?
This is a bad product with a bad design that “solves” a problem in a convoluted and silly way that could just as easily be solved with a paper card or strip with the color changing indicator on it that you can use to test your drinks and just keep in your purse or pocket without having to remember to apply it or worry about it rubbing off. Maybe this could find use as something for a spy to wear to subtly detect poison but even that requires a healthy stretch of the imagination.
I don’t find it bad product, but rather discreet.
It’s not though. Sticking your finger in your drink or pouring it onto yourself is not any more subtle than doing that with or on a test strip, and furthermore, this is a much more expensive and convoluted alternative to the test strip which can’t be ignored.
