>I love all this sniffy stuff, but in the UK the Health and Safety
>thought police would throw unending wobblies at the idea of anyone
>putting their noses near a plate.
>I have always believed that we have ignored our sense of smell. To
>replicate what we have up our noses and in our brains would cost a
>large fortune in GC-MS plus computer power.
>Seriously, has anyone out there come acrosss a system that will allow
>my delicate little students get some idea of the topic without
>exposing them to (as seen by our gestapo) certain death and us to
>large damages claims.
>Peter Harris,
>The University of Reading, UK.
>
I confess to the same problem. I do indoor air quality investigations
and am always sticking my nose in air conditioning units, attics and
the like. I do worry a bit about getting some god-awful dose in the
quadrillions of mold spores up my nose one day. I've never even heard
of a good substitute for one's nose though. First of all, some of
these odors can be detected by the nose at concentrations that would
make your GC/MS give up - low parts per trillion. Second, who even
knows what all these volatile secondary metabolites are? I'm sure most
have never been identified or studied.
Rich Byrd
Dir. IAQ Investigations
Machado Environmental Corp.
Glendale, Calif.
{all opinions exclusively my own}
