Every rapist’s dream is to carry out the act with as little resistance as possible from the victim, and without the victim being able to identify him afterwards. There are many chemicals and drugs that can be used for this, but perhaps the most widespread one, and one that has been getting a lot of attention lately, is scopolamine, also known as hyoscine and more commonly as burundanga. But how can these drugs be detected in drinks? Fortunately, there are several inventions.
How is burundanga used?
Burundanga has become the most popular drug for carrying out kidnappings, rapes and robberies because of its power to override the victim’s will. Once the crime has been committed, in most cases the victim doesn’t remember what happened. On top of that, the drug disappears from the bloodstream quickly, so in many cases a medical test or blood test can’t prove the person was drugged, and all that’s left is the victim’s testimony (or rather, the victim’s suspicion that they may have been drugged).
The attacker only has to slip the drug into the victim’s drink and wait for it to take effect. By then, the victim is at the attacker’s mercy and will obey him: they may give him their bank account passwords, open the door of their home to him, or have sexual relations they would never have in a normal state. Hence the term “chemical submission”.
Because it’s a widespread problem, and because the drug is becoming easier and easier to find in different countries around the world, some entrepreneurs have already got to work on inventions that can help prevent these crimes, especially rape, with women in mind. But let’s not forget that men can also be victims of this drug.
Four inventions that can help women avoid drug-facilitated sexual assault
1. Nail polish that detects drugs in drinks
Several students at the University of North Carolina in the United States have created a nail polish that detects drugs such as Rohypnol and GHB in drinks. All a woman has to do is dip her finger in her drink, and if she sees the polish change colour, she knows something is wrong.
2. Napkins that detect drugs in drinks
Entrepreneur Danya Sherman was herself raped after being drugged into submission. She was on an Erasmus exchange in Spain when someone she trusted drugged and raped her. That’s when she came up with the idea of a napkin that changes colour when you dip one of its corners in a drink that contains one of the chemicals used for this purpose.
Her napkin, KnoNap, can detect 26 of the more than 40 drugs used to incapacitate women in order to sexually assault them.
3. Straws that react to the chemicals used in rapes
Three young American women decided to create a straw that turns blue when it comes into contact with the most common date-rape drugs. The straw detects sedatives such as flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), as well as other substances such as ketamine and GHB (“liquid ecstasy”).
4. Cups that detect drugs
Mike Abramson went out to celebrate his birthday and can’t remember what he celebrated. All he remembers is his friends taking him home. He had been drugged. For this entrepreneur, robberies and rapes of this kind are not exceptions. He says they are very common and that cases of drugging and chemical submission number in the millions around the world.
One in five women will be the victim of sexual assault by these methods in the coming years, and one in six men will also be drugged in order to rob them. So this man’s business idea is more ambitious: while the other inventions we’ve covered are for individual use, we’re clearly not going to carry a cup with us on a night out. He wants to sell his cups, which change colour to warn of chemicals in a drink, to bars and clubs.
These inventions are not infallible, but they could help prevent thousands of rapes and robberies carried out this way.
Preventing rape by more drastic means
If the attack involves force, remember that some years ago Dr Sonnet Ehlers invented a female condom with teeth. The way it works is as simple as it is devastating for the rapist.
The device is inserted into the vagina like a diaphragm or tampon, and in the event of a sexual attack, its blades lodge in the attacker’s penis. He will very probably never again put his “little rapist’s tool” into any other woman.
As we can see, when faced with certain problems in society, we can create solutions and make money from them.
See also: 40 innovative business ideas from recent years
Featured image: Petro Stelte, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
