With British police forces and road safety stakeholders taking a growing interest in curbing the increasing number of accidents linked to nitrous oxide, with particular focus after the recent crash in Manchester, French firm Olythe has launched its portable nitrous oxide breath analyser, OCIN₂O.
The company specialises in volatile organic compound detection and measurement using infrared spectroscopy, a patented technology that offers reliable, accurate and fast measurements. OCIN2O is the first nitrous oxyde exhaled air analyzer dedicated to the analysis of laughing gas in breath.
The technology has been evaluated in a number of scientific, laboratory and operational environments, including pre-launch pilots in Denmark and Belgium and the device is currently being evaluated in Dublin as part of ongoing work on nitrous oxide and road safety in Ireland, with similar operational evaluations being prepared or already underway with various UK police forces to address nitrous-oxide impaired driving.
The device has also been evaluated by the scientific community, via an ongoing clinical sstudy conducted by the University of Aarhus presented last month. Using the OCIN₂O detector, it reported that nitrous oxide remained detectable in exhaled breath in 87.5% of participants four hours after controlled administration. The device can thus be used as part of roadside detection applications, with nitrous oxide remaining detectable in blood, urine and exhaled air for hours after consumption.
(Picture: Olythe)
