College Students Create Date Rape Drug-Detecting Nail Polish, Not Everyone Enthused

DURHAM, N.C.—Four North Carolina State University students are hoping their invention will help prevent sexual assault not only on college campuses, but worldwide as well. Undercover Colors—the brainchild of engineers and PhD students Ankesh Madan, Stephen Gray, Tasso Von Windheim, and Tyler Confrey-Maloney—bills itself as the First Fashion Company Working To Prevent Sexual Assault. Their creation is nail polish that changes colors when exposed to Rohypnol and GHB, commonly referred to as date rape drugs. When applied, a woman can simply swirl her finger through a drink to see if the colorless and odorless drugs are present. “In the U.S., 18 percent of women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime,” the Undercover Colors team notes on their Facebook page, which already has more than 35,000 likes.  “That’s almost one out of every five women in our country. They are our daughters, they are our girlfriends, and they are our friends. “While date rape drugs are often used to facilitate sexual assault, very little science exists for their detection.  Our goal is to invent technologies that empower women to protect themselves from this heinous and quietly pervasive crime.” The invention is already getting plenty of mainstream press coverage, and has even received plenty of support from the school: NCSU has provided lab space for the team and the ability to test with schedule 1 drugs—the type the polish is meant to detect. While the polish is not currently available for sale, that is the ultimate goal, team members said. Despite not being available yet, the invention already has some detractors. “I think that anything that can help reduce sexual violence from happening is, in some ways, a really good thing,” Tracey Vitchers, the board chair for Students Active For Ending Rape (SAFER), told ThinkProgress. “But I think we need to think critically about why we keep placing the responsibility for preventing sexual assault on young women.” Vitchers and others noted that women are consistently warned to change their behaviors and patterns—don’t dress provocatively, don’t go out at night alone, etc.—but these warnings and these types of products don’t address what they call the heart of the issue. “I think a lot of the time we get focused on these new products because they’re innovative and they’re interesting, and it’s really cool that they figured out how to create nail polish that does this. But at the end of the day, are you having those tough conversations with students, and particularly men, who are at risk for committing sexual assault?” Vitchers added. “Are you talking to young men about the importance of respecting other people’s boundaries and understanding what it means to obtain consent?” The color-changing nail polish is not the first product designed to help detect date rape drugs. Others have included cup and straws that change color when they detect the drugs, as well as coasters and drink stirrers that work in a similar manner. For more information on the nail polish, visit UndercoverColors.com.