Ellen Pinchuk, CTV Moscow Bureau
Russian scientists may be on to a revolutionary discovery.
Their machine, called the Emerald, uses regular tap water and
salt. The mixture passes through electrodes that highly charge the
molecules, as though they'd been hit by lightning or been passed
through a mini-reactor.
The resulting solution is so energy rich, it dissolves all
microbes it comes in contact with, in water, on objects and on
human skin. It also happens to be odorless, colorless, and
completely safe for human consumption.
Researchers said the technique used to control bacteria,
viruses, cysts and germs is 200 to 300 times more efficient than
any other purification alternative.
Infectious diseases specialist Dr. Gennady Saenko is thrilled
with the promise of this new purification technology. "If it is
true what we see, and I believe in it, it will be a revolution in
disinfection," he says.
If the Emerald proves to be all scientists at the Russian
Institute for Medical Engineering claim it is, the applications of
the technology are virtually limitless.
In our Saturday night TV news report, we stressed the most
immediate use for the Emerald, as a weapon in the war against
anthrax and other biological weapons. If a letter is suspected of
containing anthrax spores, it could be passed through a dry mist
made from the Emerald solution and the letter would be sterilized.
The letter wouldn't even get wet. Anyone exposed to the spores
could bathe in the solution and be germ free. Office buildings,
public places and homes could easily be sterilized using the
aerosol mist, instead of the highly toxic and destructive
chemicals used to clean up places exposed to anthrax in the United
States last year.
But beyond this most timely use for the Emerald lies the story
that may prove even more important.
Already, many Russian hospitals use the machine to sterilize
water for serums and cleansing purposes. Researchers in Russia and
the U.S. are looking at the invention for its water cleansing
potential.
For the military, the Emerald means soldiers in the field could
easily sterilize drinking water. Russian scientists are currently
testing a portable version of the Emerald slightly bigger than a
pen.
In human terms, the Emerald means millions of the world's
poorest citizens, who now have no access to potable water and who
suffer from all kinds of intestinal diseases such as hepatitis and
typhoid as a result, would be able to cleanse the water they do
have access to.
The process is cheap. It costs just fractions of a penny to
purify a litre of water. Researchers have even been able to take
spoiled milk and, by passing it through the Emerald, make it fresh
once again. Sounds like science fiction, doesn't it?
For all the promise of the Emerald, you wouldn't know it by
looking at the modest lab where each machine is now being made by
hand, one at a time. So far, the invention hasn't found a western
partner that could mass produce and market what seems to be such
an important discovery.
Institute director Boris Leonov says they've got the goods as
far as great scientific minds, but "still haven't learned the
economic side of our work, and it will take a long time for us to
become professional specialists in that area."
Still, Russian scientists are pressing forward with the
Emerald, full of hope that the world will soon take notice of
their little gem in a big way.
