Food irradiation is one of a set of processing technologies that can be used to increase the microbiological safety and shelf life of a wide range of foods. Ionizing radiation is used to generate highly active chemical species within the food that react with DNA. Under normal usage conditions, the food receives a pasteurizing treatment that gives a valuable reduction in common food-spoilage org...

Current doctrine describes the use of the M291 Skin Decontamination Kit (SDK), 0.5% hypochlorite solution (household bleach diluted 1 to 10) and 1% soapy water solution to decontaminate skin exposed to chemical warfare agents. Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion (RSDL) is a new product being considered and was recently approved by the FDA. This study directly compares the efficacy of these fou...

An inexpensive and rapid bioassay using adult red flour beetles was developed for use in assessing the decontamination of environments containing organophosphates and related chemicals. A decontamination protocol was developed which demonstrated that 2 to 3 applications of 5% bleach solution were required to obtain nearly complete decontamination of malathion. The bioassay was also used to scre...

The present work is devoted to the study of the decontamination of chars obtained in the co-pyrolysis of plastics, biomass and tyre wastes. The chars were extracted with several organic solvents of different polarities either individually or in sequence. The ability of each selected extractant to remove toxic pollutants was evaluated by comparing the extraction yields and by characterizing the ...

Photocatalysis has been widely applied to solar-energy conversion and environmental purification. Photocatalyst, typically titanium dioxide (TiO(2)), produces active oxygen species under irradiation of ultraviolet light, and can decompose not only conventional pollutants but also different types of hazardous substances at mild conditions. We have recently started the study of photocatalytic dec...

Recent events have emphasized the threat from chemical and biological warfare agents. Within the efforts to counter this threat, the biocatalytic destruction and sensing of chemical and biological weapons has become an important area of focus. The specificity and high catalytic rates of biological catalysts make them appropriate for decommissioning nerve agent stockpiles, counteracting nerve ag...