Agency sees opportunity with government's suggestion, Some looking into starting survival kit business in W.Va.

WHEELING - When the federal government suggested earlier this yearthat duct tape and plastic sheeting can be helpful after abiological, chemical or radiological attack, employees of an agencyhere detected a business opportunity.

Mike Camden and others at the Robert C. Byrd National TechnologyTransfer Center believe a West Virginia business can be grown fromthe government's suggestion that people be prepared to shelter inplace.

The federal government raised the security alert status to orangein February and advised citizens to prepare an emergency survivalkit. Camden said it was clear after the duct-tape-and-plasticpublicity that a lot of people were interested in acquiring materialsbut many did not know precisely what's needed to shelter in place orhow to go about it.

The Army has distributed a shelter-in-place kit to communitiesaround federal weapons depots in Oregon and Alabama. Meanwhile, theCharleston-based National Institute for Chemical Studies has almost20 years of experience in working with protective actions for thepublic, said Jan Taylor, NICS vice president.

"Around 1991 we first produced a shelter-in-place-in-your-homevideo for citizens here in the Kanawha Valley," Taylor said. "We alsoundertook a research project starting around 1987 to develop aprogram to help emergency responders make decisions about whetherpopulations at risk should shelter in place or evacuate."

Camden said, "NICS has the knowledge, history and data. Ourbusiness accelerator program has the business knowledge and can finda West Virginia company that can turn this into a product we can putout to the public."

The technology transfer center and NICS recently signed anagreement to establish a commercialization framework for developingshelter-in-place kits and related materials.

Camden said the transfer center's business accelerator programwill use the Army kit as a basis for developing kits that can helpprotect people at home, school and work. The kits will help protectpeople in the event of an accidental chemical release as well as inthe event of a release caused by terrorists, he said.

The Army kit contains 100 square feet of 6 millimeter plastic,duct tape, scissors, a towel, an instructional video, an informationbooklet and a coloring book.

Camden said the kit to be developed for sale to the public willprobably include a flashlight. Also, the technology transfer centerhas entered into an agreement with NICS to produce a new video andinformation packet.

Michael Lucey, the technology transfer center's emergency responsetechnology program manager, said a company could make a business outof buying and assembling the kits, processing orders and packing andshipping them.

"There's proven science out there, which is lacking right now inthe marketplace," Lucey said. "People who want to be prepared mayknow to buy plastic but may not know how many mills thick the plasticshould be."

Lots of products are currently being marketed but consumers haveno way of knowing whether a product will truly work, Camden and Luceysaid.

"The market is filled with snake-oil salesmen," said StevenInfanti of the technology transfer center's public affairs office.

"Now there's no one to credential a product or service," Luceysaid. "The consumer is at the mercy of the manufacturer's claims."

The NICS stamp of approval will give consumers confidence that theinformation and products in the kit are based on science. "That's ourace," Lucey said. "No one else has that credential."

Camden and Lucey hope a company in the Northern Panhandle will beidentified within six months to assemble and market the kits. Theyalso hope the business expands. They believe the chosen company couldeventually provide training by NICS-approved instructors to customerswho are not comfortable just viewing a video.

For example, customized training may be needed for schools andnursing homes, Lucey said.

There is a market for training. Taylor said the NICS trainingprogram, revised and placed on a compact disc, "has been amazinglypopular. We go out and provide the training for a fee. We'vedistributed over 5,000 of those compact discs to every state in theUnited States and even to people outside the country."

Lucey said a business also might remind customers when kit partsneed checked and when batteries should be replaced. In addition,customers could be notified when new products are available thatcould enhance their kit. "The company doing this will know what thecustomer has in their kit," he noted.

"The company that comes into the business accelerator will havethe product with the NICS stamp of approval," Camden said. "We'reproviding a conduit to get this product out there."

The National Technology Transfer Center at Wheeling JesuitUniversity helps federal agencies identify commercially promisingdiscoveries, market them to businesses and build partnerships thatturn inventions into products. NICS is a nonprofit organization thathelps communities manage safety, health and environmental risksassociated with the manufacture, storage, transportation and disposalof chemicals.

Writer George Hohmann can be reached at 348-4836 or by e-mail atbusiness@dailymail.com.