Technology from Wash. lab could target bedbugs
Technology from Wash. lab could target bedbugs
The Associated Press
RICHLAND, Wash. —
Scanning technology developed at a Richland lab to screen airplane passengers could soon be used to target bedbugs.
The technology developed at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has been licensed to a startup company in Corvallis, Ore., as part of a White House initiative to help young companies grow, the Tri-City Herald reports.
The lab, part of the Department of Energy, has signed option agreements with startup companies for three technologies. Innovations include millimeter wave technology to be used to see inside walls to detect insects hiding there, and advances to improve rechargeable batteries and fuel cells.
VisiRay in Corvallis, Ore., signed an option agreement with PNNL for millimeter wave technology and plans to manufacture devices to detect pests in buildings. The initial target will be bedbugs, sometimes called wall louse, because they may live inside walls as well as in beds and couches, the Tri-City Herald reports.
VisiRay was started by University of Oregon Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship students participating in PNNL’s University Technology Entrepreneurship Program. The company’s products would allow inspectors to see through drywall particle board and view clear images of pests inside walls. The initial target will be bedbugs, sometimes called wall louse, because they may live inside walls as well as in beds and couches.
PNNL initially developed the millimeter wave technology with Federal Aviation Administration grants to scan passengers using harmless radio waves. It can detect objects hidden beneath their clothing, whether they are metal, liquid, plastic or ceramic. The technology now is in use at about 78 airports nationwide.
In June, that same technology was licensed to be used to help shoppers by creating a three-dimensional holographic image of their bodies to help them find clothing most likely to fit them.
“We have a long history of working closely with entrepreneurs and early stage companies to develop and adapt our innovations into new or improved products and services,” said Cheryl Cejka, PNNL’s director of technology commercialization, in a statement.
The White House’s Startup America initiative reduces the cost of options to license patents to U.S. startup companies to $1,000, a fraction of the usual cost.
PNNL also signed agreements could lead to products designed to increase the storage capacity of rechargeable batteries used to power portable devices, such as laptop computers, and electric vehicles. Recharging could take minutes instead of hours, according to the Richland lab. Another PNNL technology is being used to reduce the use of platinum in certain fuel cells that are used primarily for backup power.
Copyright The Associated Press
ROACHES ON A PLANE
You’ve heard of snakes on a plane, now here come bugs on a plane.
North Carolina couple is suing AirTran Airways, alleging that cockroaches crawled out of air vents and overhead carry-on bins during a flight from Charlotte to Houston in September.
Attorney Harry Marsh and his fiancé Kaitlin Rush say the insects appeared soon after takeoff, and when Marsh pointed them out to flight attendants, they did nothing to help.
“These roaches and other pests caused great distress to a number of passengers throughout the flight,” the complaint states.
All paying guests of the airline are entitled to “clean, pest-free” accommodations, it goes to to say.
The couple accuses AirTran of negligence and recklessness, infliction of emotional distress, nuisance, false imprisonment and unfair and deceptive trade practices, and is suing for more than $100,000 plus the price of their tickets.
In a response to the complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, AirTran denies most of the allegations.
CNN legal analyst Sunny Hostin predicted the case would never go to trial.
“This is a case that’s going to settle. Bottom line, I foresee a lot of free flights for this couple if they want to get back on AirTran,” Hostin said.
“It’s certainly not a pretty picture. The roaches were out long enough for them to take video and photographs, so that’s exhibit A.”
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Coffee firm snared by regulatory miscues
From the Seattle Times…
Jeff Babcock, owner of Zoka Coffee Roaster & Tea, has spent the past month learning a painful and public lesson in bureaucratic process.
On Sept. 9, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration posted on its website a warning letter to Zoka, saying it had found evidence of rodent and insect infestation at the company’s Seattle roastery. (A handy bit of FDA jargon: REP means “rodent excreta pellets.”)
The news swept through Seattle’s coffee community and was widely discussed on Twitter, where baristas often chat. Zoka has three cafes in Seattle, one in Kirkland and two in Japan.
Babcock was mortified. He knew there had been a problem last spring, when the FDA inspected, but he had addressed it within days: tossing out bags of coffee, cleaning the plant with bleach and setting up 32 mouse traps that have caught nothing since April.
“We went after them like wolves. It was a big deal,” Babcock says. “We shut down the roastery for four days, bleached it, and added all the recommendations the FDA suggested and then some.”
However, while he worked closely with the state Department of Agriculture on the problem and got its clearance to resume roasting, Babcock never let the FDA know what he’d done.
He thought the state was keeping the FDA informed, and that he’d met both agencies’ requirements.
“I didn’t know I had to write two letters,” Babcock says.
Claudia Coles, the administrator in charge of compliance and outreach at the state’s agriculture department, says Zoka made significant improvements in the spring and continued to make improvements all summer.
“Unfortunately, in the
Her agency told the FDA last spring that Zoka was cleared to roast again but did not give it details that would take the place of Zoka communicating its efforts directly to the FDA, she said.
FDA spokesman Alan Bennett says he can’t speculate about whether Zoka would have gotten a warning letter if it had responded earlier.
Warning letters are meant to tell companies they’re doing something wrong, not to warn the public, Bennett says. And a company can ask the FDA to post its response to a warning letter on the agency’s website.
Babcock says he has now replied to the FDA’s letter and expects another inspection at some point. He also plans to ask that Zoka’s response be posted on the FDA’s website.
Meanwhile, the state inspected Zoka’s roastery on Sept. 14 and gave it a passing score of 93 out of 100. Its last regular state inspection was on Aug. 24, 2010, when it received a 96.
Business has been hurt “maybe a little,” Babcock says. “We had people saying terrible things that were not true.”
The rhetoric cooled when Zoka posted a response on its website, explaining what had happened.
“We offered anybody to come look at the roastery any time they want,” he says. “My intention is to make it and keep it the cleanest roastery on West Coast, so it never happens again.”
— Melissa Allison, mallison@seattletimes.com
Stop Bugging Me Pest Control can help prevent this kind of probelm from hapening to you. We service all kinds of commerial properties includeing food processing plants and commercial kitchens. Call about our commercial rodent prevntion services. We serve Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Everett and everywhere in between 206 749 2847