A whiff from hell

摘要

It smells like raw sewage mixed with putrefying cow's carcass, and it might soon be Israel's latest high-tech export. Skunk, as it is appositely called, has been used by Israeli soldiers since 2008 to disperse Palestinian protesters. Now it has attracted the interest of law-enforcement agencies in America which, after riots in Ferguson and Baltimore, crave better ways to scatter rioters without killing or injuring them. The liquid, first developed by the Israeli police, is manufactured by Odor-tec, a pesticide specialist near Jerusalem. Made from a secret formula including yeast and protein, it was authorised for use on civilians by the Israeli attorney-general and the army's medical corps. It is non-toxic and, the developers maintain, even drinkable-were it possible to ignore the stench. Those hit by Skunk have not reported any side effects beyond the difficulty of getting the smell out of their bodies and clothes for days.