Feds Seek to Identify People by Odor

The Associated Press ^ | DECEMBER 19, 2002 | Jim Krane

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Pentagon wants to sniff out fugitives — literally.

The federal agency that created the Internet now challenges scientists to create a detector that could identify people by their unique, genetically determined odor.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said this week that it's offering $3.2 million next year to find out if it's even possible. Proposals are due Jan. 29.

Researchers have shown that mice release a urinary odor that is genetically unique, DARPA says. It's based on the combination of acids found in varying concentrations.

So if it's possible to detect an individual mouse, why not a human by the smell of his or her urine or sweat?

If scientists can prove that it works within two and a half years, DARPA wants to build a prototype within six years, spokeswoman Jan Walker said.

Such a detector would essentially allow on-the-fly DNA identification, measuring and collecting yet another biometric, or identifying characteristic of the human body, Walker said.

Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, a Washington group that circulated news of DARPA's proposal, warns that such a detector — if it were ever built — might be confused by myriad and changing odors that people exude.

``It would be like trying to detect an individual's fingerprints through a pair of gloves,'' Aftergood said.

The smeller isn't DARPA's first attempt at artificial nose. The unit's Dog's Nose Program works on sensors to detect the TNT in buried land mines without risking the lives of sniffer dogs.

—Jim Krane, AP technology writer

———

On the Net:

http://www.aro.army.mil/research/odortypedetection.pdf

[Aric2000]

I saw that on the history channel, was absolutely fascinating.

They still have the collection, catalogued and everything.