back $27.8m worth of unused anti- dengue vaccines as requested by the Philippine government. This agreement comes on the back of the Philippine government fining Sanofi $2,000 and suspending clearance for its dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, citing violations on product registration and marketing.


Model citizen SRC Inc has been awarded a follow-on contract by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) to continue developing accurate hazard prediction models for chemical threats. Under the contract, SRC will improve the DoD’s capability to predict and track nuclear, biological, chemical and toxic industrial material events and effects with more validity and accuracy to real life scenarios. This will be accomplished by enhancing the accuracy and applicability of DTRA’s droplet reaction and evaporation of agents model (DREAM).


Regional Romania Romania’s General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) is to establish a network of regional training centres for its operative personnel as part of a €40m project. IGSU is rolling out the project because of its lack of facilities and infrastructure for training its operatives, Cristian Radu, first deputy with IGSU, explained. The centres, which will be located in Iaşi, Suceava, Timiş, Hunedoara, Dolj, Constanţa, Mureş, and Bucharest will


Letter to Editor Dear Sir,


I’m writing to express concern over an article published in CBRNE World in December of 2017, titled “Looking for My China Girl” and authored by Drs. Christina Baxter and Michael Logan. In the article, Table 1 makes a comparison between a direct sampling mass spectrometer (908 Devices MX908) and two gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer (GC-MS) systems (FLIR Griffin G510 and Smiths Guardion). I feel that the table is misrepresentative of the relative selectivity of the respective technologies. It is difficult to compare the selectivity of a direct sampling MS system to one that has GC separation, because upfront chromatographic separation provides sample resolution (selectivity) of at least 1000. The direct sampling MS has no sample separation and must rely only on the mass spectral data to select between targets and interferents, all of which will be introduced to the MS simultaneously.


In addition to the GC separation capability, the linear quadrupole MS in the FLIR system, and the toroidal ion trap MS in the Smiths system, each have mass resolution in the range of 500. The MX908 can be estimated to have a mass resolution of no more than 100, based on spectra shown in 908 Devices own product literature. Therefore, even as stand- alone MS systems, the FLIR and Smiths instruments provide higher selectivity. When GC and MS are integrated, they represent a high resolution, gold standard laboratory technique for selective identification of targets. Even in the portable form factor represented by the FLIR and Smiths systems, GC-MS data has orders-of-magnitude more


be dedicated to the operative personnel acquiring competence and creating a network of regional training centres for CBRN intervention, climbers, divers, paramedics and firefighters.


FAST-ACT kit for preppers After more than a decade of working with the American military and international defence organisations, the US based brand FAST-ACT announced the launch of a line of newly released survivalist products made specifically for private citizens. These are offered to the general public but mainly those “who want to be prepared for any situation that may arise”.


Delivery for DoD Alion Science and Technology has been selected to support DoD in its research and development against chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and high-yield explosives weapons. The US based company has been chosen as the prime contractor on a potential $8.3bn IDIQ contract. Alion will be responsible for delivering CBRNE defence systems, capabilities, equipment, supplies, radiological and nuclear defence systems, and information programmes to troops until 1 November 2027.


Just say app DetectaChem announced the release of its MobileDetect smartphone application for drug detection. Evolving out of the SEEKER product line,


MobileDetect was designed to meet industry demand for trace drug detection at a mass adoption price point. MobileDetect uses the same patented automated colorimetric technology and users can easily send PDF result reports through email, text, Dropbox and more with additional pictures, GPS location and custom notes directly from the app.


A Saphy-ic relationship The SaphyRAD MS, developed by Bertin, is the latest multi-probe survey meter designed for operations in harsh environment, to be used on military fields or by hazmat teams. With the development of this new military survey meter, Bertin strengthens its existing offer in CBRN threat detection. The SaphyRAD MS is the result of two years’ research and development. It is currently in beta test by the French army and production is from the end of 2018.


Technology transfer award for Dahlgren Decon The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) selected the navy’s Dahlgren Decon technology for a 2018 excellence in technology transfer award, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD). The FLC award - presented annually to employees from more than 300 federal laboratories for outstanding work in transferring federally developed technology - will be awarded to NSWCDD for the first time at the FLC national meeting in Philadelphia on 25 April.


information content than the direct sampling MS used in the MX908. Therefore, the “Selectivity” boxes for these techniques should not all be green to indicate equivalent selectivity. Furthermore, the MX908 is noted to be green in the “Mixtures” category, despite not having any up-front mixture separation, and no justification for this is given in the table.


I would also note that the pricing information and the number of synthetic opioids in the library are inaccurately reported for the FLIR system. The price for G510 is <$100,000. The G510 uses the NIST/EPA/NIH EI-MS library, 2017 release, which has spectra for more than 35 fentanyl analogs, in addition to other abused opioids. The system also allows for new spectra to be added as new analogs are identified.


The MX908 has several advantages, in terms of size, cost, and advanced algorithms for data processing, as described in the article. However, the technology is more appropriately compared to the IMS systems described, as these are also direct sampling detectors that provide immediate presumptive ID. The GC-MS systems are simply in a different category relative to selectivity, providing laboratory-quality data that allows for higher-confidence identification and field confirmation. This article, especially the comparison of relative Selectivity in Table 1, is misleading to your readers on this important topic of the current opioid crisis.


Best regards, Mitch Wells, Ph.D. Director of Research and Development FLIR Systems, Inc.


CBRNe Convergence, Orlando, USA, 6-8 November 2018 www.cbrneworld.com/convergence2018 6 CBRNe WORLD February 2018 www.cbrneworld.com


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