In the near future, a special sensor could alert you to whether your drink has been spiked with a "date rape" drug, according to new research.
Researchers from Tel Aviv University have developed a sensor that can detect the presence of a date rape drug when dipped into a drink. Researchers expect the sensor to be available for purchase in the next few years, and it will be small and easily portable, they said.
Because date rape drugs are usually colorless and tasteless, the sensor works by detecting the subtle optical changes in the drink, researchers said. Once the sensor detects the change, it sounds an alarm, which, in the finished product, could be in the form of a sound or a flashing light.
"We haven't decided how it will let you know," study researcher Dr. Michael Ioffe told Medical News Today. "Maybe it will just light up, or a part of it will rotate or maybe it will send a signal to your cell phone because you want to be discreet about it."
Researchers tested the accuracy of the sensor by placing it in 50 drinks spiked with GHB, one of the most common date rape drugs. Each time, the sensor accurately detected the GHB.
Currently, the sensor can detect GHB and another date rape drug called ketamine, though "we hope to expand the system so it will identify additional date rape drugs as well," Ioffe said in a statement. Ioffe and his colleagues recently presented the research at a conference in Israel.
While the use of date rape drugs certainly occurs, Dr. Robert DuPont, president of the Institute for Behavior and Health, told ABC News that alcohol is actually a bigger culprit when it comes to rape.
In addition to GHB and ketamine, Rohypnol is another commonly used date-rape drug. The drugs' effects on the body include feeling drunk, sleepiness, nausea, trouble talking, slow heart rate and trouble talking. Some of the more dangerous effects include loss of consciousness, coma, problems breathing and even death, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
RELATED: