“NON-​​LETHAL” MINES: HOW SAFE?

The taser has been used by police forces for years to inca­pac­i­tate rowdy sus­pects. Now, a com­pany is try­ing to turn the tool into a kind of non-​​lethal land­mine, New Scientist reports.
The mines — called “Taser Area Denial Devices” — shoot their vic­tims with a pair of darts, con­nected to light­weight metal cables, which deliver a 50,000-volt charge.
Supposedly, the sys­tem won’t hurt — or even per­ma­nently injure — any­one. But some ana­lysts aren’t so sure.
“If you’re preg­nant, a child or old, the effects of 50,000 volts are poten­tially lethal,” said Landmine Action’s Richard Lloyd.
A few gov­ern­ment agen­cies have expressed some inter­est in the sys­tem, its mak­ers say. But there are cur­rently no buy­ers for the mines.

April 23rd, 2003 | Uncategorized | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.