Four Danish high school students, whose friend was raped after having her drink spiked, have developed an on-the-spot test to prevent date rape. The teenage girls from Svendborg Gymnasium School in Funen have invented a glucose measuring stick which can detect within seconds if a drink has been tampered with.
“There could be pills or bonding agents in your beer. Our stick will detect the glucose that comes out of that,” one of the girls, Sofie Falther, said in an interview with broadcaster TV2. “If your drink hasn’t been spiked, nothing will happen,” she added.
The girls’ teacher, Peter Teglhoj, entered the ‘Drugstick’ into the Science Cup Denmark – a national high school inventors’ challenge. Having claimed victory in the regional round, Mr Teglhoj believes he has backed the winning team. “The idea is exciting because it’s a simple solution to a very complex problem,” he said.
Date rape is notoriously hard to prosecute against, as any trace of drugs usually leaves the victims’ bodies after a few hours. The girls will face the national final of the competition on 16 May, but, regardless of their success, plan to ask the Novozymes biotech firm to join them in a partnership to mass produce the Drugstick.
“Date rape is notoriously hard to prosecute against, as any trace of drugs usually leaves the victims’ bodies after a few hours. ”
Its notorious hard to find any evidence of having drinks spiked. Loads of evidence of Alcohol and illegal drugs being voluntary taken, however.
Glucose isnt used in many drugs is it? I find it very unlikely that any more than a minority of drugs use it. GBH for instance, claimed to used a a date rate drug is supposed to be a liquid and therefore unlikely to have glucose in it.