STINKY WEAPON MAY SAVE SNIFFERS

Ottawa (CP) -- Researchers hired by the federal government have been
testing really stinky additives in the hope of reducing rampant
gasoline sniffing in some aboriginal communities.

Scientific tests, outlined in documents obtained by The Canadian Press
under the Access to Information Act, were devised to find compounds
that would most irritate sniffers and turn them off the deadly
substance abuse.

But the additives couldn't impede engine performance, increase harmful
emissions, cost a fortune or cause cancer or other health problems.

Dalhousie University researchers in Halifax identified two compounds
that could work, since they were problem-free but very smelly and apt
to cause nausea and irritate breathing passages.

The cheapest - isobutyric acid, at about 15 cents a litre - was the
final choice the four researchers recommended to government last
December for more tests.

"When we all first heard of this, we thought it was half-crazy," said
toxicologist Ken Renton, who scoured medical journals looking for
reports that would rule out harmful chemicals.

"I thought: what's worse than gas?"

Renton and three others at the university dipped cotton swabs into
some pretty foul liquids, checking that they didn't become
desensitized to the smell after being exposed to it for a while.

They played around with concentrations in gas and ran engine tests,
checking the effect on emissions, as well.

Sniffing gasoline is addictive and abuse can lead to permanent
physical and mental problems.

Ian Gray, director of the Newfoundland and Labrador secretariat for
the federal Indian Affairs department, said federal officials are
still considering the novel idea.

"We're a long way from implementing this," said Gray.

"It's kind of a radical, off-the-wall idea . . . But we're interested
in anything that can help this (gas-sniffing) problem."