SEM_tex

[jya@pipeline.com (John Young)]

   New Sci 25 May 1996: 
 
   "Forensic lab awash with Semtex." 
 
      Just 5 nanograms of RDX -- one of the ingredients in 
      Semtex -- is enough to link a suspected terrorist to a 
      bombing. Yet the DERA forensic laboratory that carries 
      out tests in many high-profile terrorist cases 
      frequently finds more than this on its floor. "It's 
      horrifying," says an independent forensic scientist  
      who specialises in explosives cases. "They seem to  
      have been getting contamination all the time." 
 
      In contrast, forensic experts frequently say that the 
      Forensic Science Agency in Northern Ireland has the most 
      thorough precautions against contamination. The agency 
      moved to a new laboratory in 1992 after the IRA blew up 
      its old one. 
 
   SEM_tex