US Army Working on Ultimate Stink Bomb  

Daily Telegraph, London 5jul01

London -- The United States army is developing the mother of all stink bombs, with a stench so repulsive that it can disperse rioters and empty streets.

The effort to create a mixture of malodorous molecules that does not kill or maim but can halt disorderly mobs is part of the Pentagon's Nonlethal Weapons Program. The army believes that a vile stink could help drive away enemy troops or hostile crowds and enforce no-go zones around sensitive installations, says today's issue of New Scientist. 

Lt Col George Rhynedance, a Pentagon spokesman, told the magazine: "It would give us an offensive capability against large and unruly groups of people if they are unwilling to move or are hostile. And it would minimise the risk to our people and the antagonists."

Police forces would have many uses for a stink bomb, from ending sieges, dispersing rioters or marking ringleaders with a tell-tale smell. This is not the first time that the US military has become obsessed with odour. 

During the Second World War it conjured up Who Me?, a pong meant to help the French resistance humiliate German officers by making them smell foul. But it was so volatile that it was impossible to "bomb" the target without contaminating everything nearby. Dr Pam Dalton, of the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in Philadelphia, led a team which tested the new smells on volunteers. Two odours transcended culture. One was Standard Bathroom Malodour, a faecal stink concocted to test cleaning products. The other was an updated version of Who Me?, a bouquet of sulphur molecules reminiscent of spoilt food and rotting carcasses. A combination of the two should affect everyone, said Dr Dalton.

U.S. Secret Weapon: Stink Bombs Reuters 4jul01

The Pentagon is developing a stink bomb to drive away enemy troops or hostile crowds, the magazine New Scientist said on Wednesday.

Stench warfare could form a key part of the U.S. non-lethal weapons program and provide police with an extra means of dealing with the kind of rioting that has disrupted recent summits of world leaders.

"It would give us an offensive capability against large and unruly groups of people, if they are unwilling to move or are openly hostile," New Scientist quoted a Pentagon spokesman as saying.

"And it would minimize the risk to our people and to the antagonists."

Researchers said there was a close link between nasty smells and fear, as a bad smell can activate tissue deep within the brain. The "perfect" stink for defense purposes would be one that triggered an emotional response in humans.

The problem is that odors can provoke varying reactions in different people because of social and cultural conditioning.

Pam Dalton, a cognitive psychologist at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia who is leading the search for a better stink bomb, has tested smells on volunteers of different ethnic origins to try to find a universal formula. She has found two odors that appear to transcend culture, and a mixture of the two could form the basis of a weapon.

She has found two odors that appear to transcend culture, and a mixture of the two could form the basis of a weapon.