Foam gets its shot at anthrax. (Chemistry).A recently developed chemical cocktail that kills anthrax spores and breaks down chemical warfare agents has received its first real-world trials in anthrax cleanups this past month. The substance, often formulated as a foam, can also be a fog or mist, says Cecelia Williams of Sandia National Laboratories Sandia National Laboratories, which is managed and operated by the Sandia Corporation (a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation), is a major United States Department of Energy research and development national laboratory with two locations, one in Albuquerque, New in Albuquerque, N.M., where the foam was developed. The brew contains chemicals similar to surfactants in hair conditioner and oxidizers in toothpaste, and it offers an alternative to other cleanup chemicals, such as chlorine dioxide gas. Laboratory tests and military field trials have shown that the cocktail kills anthrax spores. After the surfactants soft en a spore's outer coating, the oxidizers get inside the bacterium and break it down, says Williams. Cleanup crews have used a brand of the foam sold by Denver-based Modec in the offices of ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. , CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. , and the New York Post The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and the oldest to have been published continually as a daily.[3] Since 1976, it has been owned by Australian-born billionaire Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation and is one of the 10 , says Modec president Brian Kalamanka. A version sold by EnviroFoam in Huntsville, Ala., has been used in parts of three congressional office buildings The congressional office buildings are the office buildings used by the United States Congress to augment the limited space in the United States Capitol. The congressional office buildings are part of the Capitol complex are thus under the authority of the Architect of the Capitol , an EnviroFoam spokesperson says. --J. G. |
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