LOS ANGELES, March 17, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Universal Detection Technology (OTCBB:UDTT) -- This week has been witness to a new wave of events that heighten the nation's awareness of the reality and possibility of a devastating bio-terrorist attack. On Monday, March 14th, news broke that two delivery security facilities at the Pentagon were closed after detection devices indicated that an incoming package could contain chemical or biological materials. Responding to these alarms, which now appear to have been false, officials gave antibiotics to around 900 postal workers and closed three mail facilities, two that serve the Pentagon and one in Washington that handles mail on its way to the Military. "Such actions by officials to contain the possibility of the spread of a biological warfare agents, reveals how devastating such an attack could be to the security of the nation," says Jacques Tizabi, CEO of UDTT. "The obvious need for an early an accurate detection mechanism in all levels of government and the private sector is the foundation of UDTT's strategy in bringing its unique bacterial spore detection technology to the market," he added.
Reiterating the vulnerability of the nation to biological attacks, the New York Times broke the news of a draft document by the US Department of Homeland Security titled, National Planning Scenarios. The draft, which was inadvertently posted on a Hawaii state government website, outlines possible terrorist attacks and their consequences. One of the findings is that "the most devastating of the possible attacks, as measured by loss of life and economic impact would be a nuclear bomb, the explosion of a liquid chlorine tank, and an aerosol anthrax attack. The anthrax attack involves terrorists filling a truck with an aerosolized version of anthrax and driving through five cities over two weeks spraying it into the air. Public health officials, the report predicts, would probably not know of the initial attack until a day or two after it started. By the time it was over, an estimated 350,000 people would be exposed, and about 13,200 would die, the report predicts."
"As predicted by the National Planning Scenarios report, the loss of life from an aerosolized anthrax attack is horrendous. Of utmost importance is to become aware of the presence of airborne bacterial spores early enough to enable response teams to mitigate its deadly effects," comments Amir Ettehadieh, UDTT's Director of Research and Development. "Our Bacterial Spore Technology, developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory would detect the rise in the level of airborne bacterial spores above normal thresholds, which is a signature of an anthrax attack," adds Tizabi.
About Universal Detection Technology
Universal Detection Technology (UDTT), founded in 1973, is a developer of monitoring technologies, including bio-terrorism detection devices. Management believes that the Company's technology, together with third party technologies and devices, has positioned it to capitalize on growth and value opportunities related to Homeland Security. UDTT, in cooperation with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), has developed a bio-terror 'smoke' detector, which combines JPL's spore detection technology with UDTT's aerosol capture device.
For more information, please visit http://udtt.invrel.net or http://www.udetection.com.
Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in this news release are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause a company's actual results, performance and achievement in the future to differ materially from forecasted results, performance, and achievement. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things, the funding of amounts of capital adequate to provide for our working capital needs and our timely repayment of debt, our ability to timely and cost effectively complete the development and testing of our products targeted to the bio-chemical market, our ability to commercially produce our products on a profitable basis, commercial acceptance of our products, product price volatility, product demand, market competition and general economic conditions, and other factors described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We undertake no obligation and do not intend to revise or update publicly any forward looking statements for any reason.