Clothing sampling method

In this part, the development of a clothing sampling method, common to both explosive and firearm residue is described. 

Unwashed new clothing samples (Table IIC), fiberglass insulation products with formaldehyde resins (Table IID), paper products (Table HE), fabrics (cotton, nylon, olefin, and blended) (Table HF), and carpets (Table HG), had substantially 3 to > 100 fold) lower formaldehyde release rate coefficients, as measured by this method, than did pressed wood products or urea formaldehyde foams (1, 15). 

The traditional methods for detection of illicit drugs are based either on sniffing of vapors emitted from the contraband materials or on swipe samples by which the suspect object (or person) is swabbed with a suitable material (paper, cloth, or a polymer) that is inserted into a heated inlet of the IMS (Figure 14.3, lONSCAN inlet schematic). These sampling methods have been used in several laboratory and operational scenarios, as shown in Section 14.4. 

Ian Bartlett is occupational hygienist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He obtained an MSc in hygiene at the school and helped to co-ordinate the school s occupational medicine hygiene service. He is currently involved in research into safety problems in the textile industry, in particular with the development of dust sampling methods and the development of field techniques for protective clothing. 

In all instances, environmental considerations are equally as important as reagent purity, when selecting a sample preparation method. In an ideal situation, samples can be handled under clean air conditions under laminar flow to prevent contamination. Potential sources of environmental contamination include the analyst (particles from skin or clothing), sample container material, air, gloves, heating block, muffle furnace, etc. 

Many products advertise long-lasting fresh clean odors on fabric or in your home. These claims are often subjective panel judgments but they can be supported by analytical measurements from the respective substrates. Two applications of SPME have involved developing sampling methods to measure substantivity from cloth and tile. 

Among the first dermal dosimeters used in exposure research were 4 x 4-in cellulose or gauze patches which were pinned to the outer and inner surfaces of clothing or vests which farm workers would wear during the application or re-entry phase of the smdy. These patches were easy to manufacture and when pinned to the shirt or pants of the worker made for an easily used dosimeter pad. The major advantage to the use of the patch to estimate worker exposure was this method s ability to differentiate the relative contributions of pesticide residues to different parts of the worker s body. This sampling technique in turn could lead to recommendations (i.e., the use of... 

Explosive trace detectors using IMS are ubiquitous in airports with over 6000 units purchased for U.S. airports alone since 9/11. These detectors use cloth swipes to collect sample as described earlier. Recently, Hitachi introduced an MS version of the ETD using the swipe method. Little data is available at this time. 

The remainder of the book details chemical aspects of forensic firearms casework with particular emphasis on the detection of gunshot residues (GSR)/firearm discharge residues (FDR)/cartridge discharge residues (CDR) on a suspect s skin and clothing surfaces. The development of an analytical method to routinely examine samples from terrorist suspects for both firearms and explosives residues is described. 

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