Experiment to identify criminals by their body odour shows promising results

Identifying a criminal in an identity parade by his body odour may be an effective method of identifying culprits, scientists have said. In the first test of its kind, tests have shown that people can often accurately recognise the perpetrator of a crime by smelling them – with a potential for error similar to that of eyewitness or vocal identifications. In criminal processes, witnesses can often play a crucial role and their identification of criminals can be received as evidence in courts of justice. But while identification of body odour by dogs have also been accepted, human olfaction has always been considered too limited to be an accurate method. In a new research, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, scientists contradict this view, suggesting that everyone has a 'unique odour print' that can be recognised by their peers, and that this method may by as valid as any other types of human identification. ID parade and body odour To test the efficacy of identifying perpetrators by their body odour, the researchers carried two sets of experiments. In the first, 73 participants were presented an authentic video clip of a violent crime along with a body odour, which was said to belong to the criminal. The body odours had been collected on nursing pads sewn to different male volunteers' T-shirts over four hours. Then, in an ID-parade test composed of three, five or eight body odour samples, they asked the participants to identify the one belonging to the perpetrator. In the three cases, the probability of choosing the correct culprit was higher than chance levels, suggesting the method may be reliable to use in forensic settings. However, the scientists observed that the number of correct answers decreased as the ID-parade size increased. In those composed of eight body-odour samples, the probability of identifying the criminal was lower. The second experiment confirmed this and also indicated that the method was less reliable when there was a longer interval between first smelling the criminal's body odour and then identifying them in an ID parade. The scientists point out that these limits are similar to the ones observed in eyewitness or vocal witness identification. Though more research is needed in the identification of criminals through their body odour, it could be an interesting tool to complement existing identification methods. "Identification of body odour in a forensic setting is possible and has characteristics in line with witness identification through other modalities, altogether meriting further investigation in this new field. Olfactory memory may turn out to be an interesting forensic tool, either in the identification of culprits or in the recollection of event details", the authors conclude.

Egg farm odour will hit residents of West Belconnen, says Parkwood owner

Parkwood Eggs in Belconnen is worried the smell from its laying sheds will affect residents of a planned new suburb. Parkwood Eggs in Belconnen is worried the smell from its laying sheds will affect residents of a planned new suburb. Photo: Jeffrey Chan The owner of Parkwood Eggs has slammed the West Belconnen housing development as way too close for comfort, indicating that much of the proposed new housing will be affected by smell from the barn egg farm. Pace Farm chief executive Paul Pace says the business will probably be forced out of Canberra when its lease expires if the new suburb goes ahead, with the loss of 65 primary production jobs. He described the proposed clear zone of 750 metres around the Parkwood Egg farm as completely inadequate. But the company's claims were rejected on Friday by the Land Development Agency, whose deputy chief executive, Ben Ponton, said there would be no smell for residents outside the 750-metre buffer and when development began inside the buffer the egg farm lease would be cancelled. Planning Minister Mick Gentleman has approved a territory plan change to pave the way for the housing development, which will have 11,500 homes, spilling over the border into NSW. The development has sparked concerns about the impact on the adjacent Ginninderra Falls area. Mr Gentleman approved the Territory Plan variation without referring it to the ACT Parliament's planning committee, a decision described as disappointing by Liberal planning spokesman Alistair Coe. The West Belconnen development area, earmarked for 6500 homes. Parkwood is in the top right of the development area, near the border with NSW and in part of the zone coloured pink. The West Belconnen development area, earmarked for 6500 homes. Parkwood is in the top right of the development area, near the border with NSW and in part of the zone coloured pink. Photo: Supplied "What is the purpose of having a planning committee if it is not to consider massive housing estates?" Mr Coe said. Pace Farm commissioned a report from Katestone Environmental, which concluded the government's report had significantly underestimated the odour emissions from the egg farm – and could be out by a factor of more than seven. A clearance zone of between three and four kilometres was necessary to meet NSW odour guidelines and reduce the impact on residents to an acceptable level, Pace Farm said. In NSW, a developer would be required to carry out high-level modelling, especially when the plan was to rezone land "to permit some 30,000 people to reside in the vicinity of the largest poultry farm in the region", it said. Pace has seven sheds with 189,000 chickens, but permission for as many as 10 sheds, housing 270,000 chickens. The Katestone report said the government-commissioned odour report had assumed an odour emission rate of 4 OU ("odour units") per minute per bird, but that significantly underestimated the emissions from layer chicken farms, which could be up to 7.6 times higher. And while the government report had used a Victorian guideline of 7 OU in the absence of a Canberra limit, it would have been more logical to use the NSW limit of 2 OU. Whichever limit was used, both were exceeded at distances greater than 750 metres from the Parkwood farm in all directions except the north to north-east, Katestone said. To meet the NSW odour figure, the buffer should be three to four kilometres from the farm. To meet the Victorian figure, the buffer should be 2.5 to three kilometres. Mr Pace said Pace had recently switched from cage to barn eggs at the ACT farm, which also housed one of the company's three grading and packing centres nationwide. The Parkwood lease runs for another 18 years and Mr Pace said he had expected the business to remain on site for as many as 50 years, but his discussions with the government suggested the lease was highly unlikely to be renewed because the farm was incompatible with residential development. Mr Ponton confirmed that Parkwood's lease would not be renewed at the end of 18 years, and might be resumed earlier if the housing development went more quickly than anticipated. Parkwood was "absolutely" aware of that. "Parkwood Eggs know and has done for some time that the land is required for development in the next 20 years," Mr Ponton said. "They know what the rules of engagement are." The government rejected Parkwood's analysis, he said. The current Crown lease specified an exclusion zone of just 500 metres. The government-commissioned report had recommended 600 metres. And the decision to impose a 750-metre zone had been based on best-practice South Australian guidelines. ​Pace's concerns were set out in a submission to the Territory Plan change, but the government said an independent site auditor had endorsed the approach, it said. Riverview plans to sell the first property off the plan in June 2016, with residents living in the new suburb in the third quarter of 2017.

Dirty Sock Odour

Do you get a mildew-type odour when your air conditioning system first starts up?

From information gathered over many years, most professionals agree the "Dirty Sock Odour" is caused by a bacteria that collects and grows on the indoor coils of heat pumps and air conditioners.

Complaints normally surface when heat pumps go into defrost, or when systems are run in heating for a brief time then switched back into cooling. The bacteria or odor collects and grows on the coil during this heating time and is released all at once when the indoor coil gets cool and damp. Heat pump owners notice the odour when the system goes into defrost, usually when the outdoor temperature dips below 4 degrees C. Heat pumps and air conditioners experience the problem, when the air conditioner is turned back on after the heating has been used. Our climate can require heating in the morning and cooling in the afternoon. This is a perfect condition for a complaint to surface.

Most people describe the odour as a musky, dirty, locker room smell. The problem is similar to an odor that is blown out of a car air conditioner when the AC has not been used for a while.

It is very important to properly identify the problem before any action can be taken, since many odour problems are incorrectly labeled as a dirty sock problem. Eliminate dirty drain pans holding water, drain lines connected to plumbing systems without adequate traps or dry traps, return air leaks in ductwork or chases, or dead animals in ductwork or near the living space. If the odor is present ALL the time, especially during heat, the problem is NOT a dirty sock syndrome complaint. Dirty sock complaints only smell when the indoor coil gets cool and the bacteria releases its odour into the air stream.

The problem itself is sporadic and limited to isolated households and is somehow related to the living style or products in the home or office. After removing a "stinky" unit from a complaint house, the unit can be cleaned and installed elsewhere without a complaint surfacing. Changing the brand of equipment is met with a similar lack of success. In one instance a complaining customer underwent a divorce and when one of them moved out of the home, the problem went away.

Much effort and expense has been given by the industry to research and solve this odour, Anotec spending tens of thousands of hours in their effort. In an effort to determine what in these homes or offices could create the complaints, Anotec has taken numerous air samples looking for a common denominator with no successful results.

Once the problem has been properly identified, action can then be taken to resolve or reduce the complaint, starting with a thorough cleaning of the evaporator coil with a non-acid coil cleaner. Cleaning will bring the system back to normal and will usually prevent a complaint for the rest of the heating season. Some systems cleaned early in the season or those having more of a problem may have repeated problems during the same season, especially if the weather conditions force a system back and forth from heating to cooling. The majority of complaints are resolved with a thorough cleaning.

If the coil cleaning does not resolve the complaint to a satisfactory level, the next suggested action would be to clean the coil again and apply a coating of Anotec SFS1121, a special solution designed to continuously protect coils from fouling caused by airborne contaminates. If seasonal cleanings or the application of this does not resolve the complaint, as a last resort, your coil may need to be replaced.

Dirty Sock Odour complaints can be quite emotional and are generally aimed at the equipment manufacturer.