You learn the rules early when you go to gigs, festivals and bars: Always keep an eye on your drink. Watch out for strangers. Be careful who you leave your glass with. But now an Australian invention could change that (and put less onus on young people — especially women — to completely change the way they act when they’re out).
A university is hoping to protect students from being spiked after launching a wristband that can detect drugs in drinks. The Sip Safe is a wristband designed for concerts and festivals that lets you test for drugs in your drink. Dab a drop of your drink onto the two spots on the band, wait two minutes till the liquid dries, and if the spots turn darker blue, that’s a sign that your drink could have been spiked. It’s not the first invention designed to make drink safety easy — we’ve seen drug-testingย drinkware, sensors thatย look like swizzle sticksย and evenย nail polishย that tests for date-rape drugs.
Australia’s Monash University created Sip Safe in collaboration with Y&R Melbourne – and the wristband will be rolled out to students throughout the year.Its launch follows a successful trial in late 2017 during a week-long festival after graduates finished their final exams.The university wants to provide greater education to students to help protect themselves, and deter people from spiking drinks.
Trisha Prpich, director of Monash Residential Services, said, “Monash is invested in the safety and well-being of our students. We want to make sure our community is safe and well informed, and that includes encouraging everyone to drink responsibly. Sip Safe has the potential to provide users with an easy way to determine if their drink has been spiked with two of the most common drugs used in drink spiking.”
Source – Sky Techย News, CNet
