Making Scents of Immigration Reform

In his his first speech dedicated solely to the mounting problem of immigration reform, President Obama this morning stated that the problem is too big to be fixed “only with fences and border patrols,” and reiterated his support for creation and issuance of a tamper-proof identification card. Such an unforgeable document would be a crucial tool for American employers who may find themselves tasked with stemming the tide of illegal immigrants by refusing to hire them - which means, minimally, the ability to reliably identify them. But, in an age where any child with access to PhotoShop can convincingly forge virtually any document, is a “tamper-proof” identification system realistic?

In a nutshell, Yes.

From Chapter 1 of Whiff! The Revolution of Scent Communication in the Information Age: Scent Identification Devices:

“The future promises an entirely new way of eliminating identity theft and security breaches, with new discoveries being made about the identification of each person’s unique organic signature scent. Scent IDs will be captured without the invasive methods of DNA swabs, thumbprints, iris scans, or dental records, and will be recorded with a mere pass of a pen-sized wand. No longer will we need to keep track of a plethora of ever-changing passwords and codes, nor will we need to remember our childhood dog’s name or the name of our mother’s elementary school.

“Our individual scent ID will be captured with a Star Trek-like device held just inches from our skin, recording volatile chemicals, amino acids, and the surfaces of our T-cells, to be registered in a scent ID registry database. This bodes well for use in protecting our finances, health records, and even for tracking missing children. Police will be able to track child molesters, terrorists, and serial rapists, and even be able to pick up the signature scent trail hours and maybe days after they’ve left the scene of the crime.

“Scent ID technology is already in the making, with millions in funding from the government, and everyone from the CIA and the military, to the banking and security industries anticipating its arrival. A mere whiff of the essence of our skin will be one of the most radical changes to come in the new age of scent communication, and we hope that it will be used for the ultimate good of the public—for its misuse would represent a horrifying misstep.

“In this case of science fiction becoming science fact, researchers from Purdue University have developed a portable instrument that can identify any substance in less than a second, much like the “tricorders” used by the crew of the Starship Enterprise. The 20-pound, battery-powered unit is an advanced version of the mass spectrometers used today for airport security. Those larger units weigh up to 300 pounds and require target substances to be swabbed and inserted in the instruments’ test chambers. But the desorption electrospray ionization (DESI) tricorder ejects a puff of ionized water vapor, which it then “inhales” for analysis. The entire procedure takes less than a second.”