Airborne pathogens can be burned away.

• Position: Homeland Security - Scientists at the State University of New York, Buffalo, develop the BioBlower

A device that in minutes, instead of months, safely and inexpensively could destroy airborne biological agents in structures as large as the Hart Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C.--which was closed for an extended period after anthrax was detected there in October, 2001--has been developed by engineers at the University at Buffalo (N.Y.).

The BioBlower has immediate homeland-security applications, with the potential to eradicate a wide range of biological pathogens, such as anthrax, smallpox, SARS, influenza, tuberculosis, and other toxic airborne species. It destroys pathogens by heating contaminated air rapidly and could be employed either as a portable air-purification unit for first responders at the site of a biological attack or installed as a permanent part of a building's air-handling system to be activated as soon as biological toxins are detected.

Moreover, the BioBlower could provide a continuous clean air supply in hospitals as well as military command centers and other battlefield facilities. It "destroys airborne biological agents essentially by sterilizing the air," says co-inventor Jim Garvey, professor of chemistry, who notes that the mechanism represents a quantum leap ahead of the current conventional technology, HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air)...