Now that’s a drug sting! Honeybees could be used at airports to detect narcotics instead of sniffer dogs

• A German study found honeybees could detect heroin and cocaine
• The bees were conditioned to fly away from the odour of narcotics
• They could be used at airport security checks to detect drugs
• Other insects such as moths and cockroaches were also successful 

By Jonathan O'Callaghan

Honeybees can be used to ‘sniff’ for drugs by teaching them to fly away from the odour given off by narcotics, a study has found.

The novel method could see devices containing honeybees, and other insects such as cockroaches, used at airports to screen luggage for heroin, cocaine and amphetamines.

The technique could also be useful with the legalisation of cannabis in certain states in the US, which has rendered some sniffer dogs less effective.

A German study found honeybees (stock image shown) could detect heroin and cocaine. The bees were conditioned to fly away from the odour of narcotics. They could be used at airport security checks to detect drugs. Other insects such as moths and cockroaches were also successful

The research was carried out by scientists from the University of Giessen in Germany.

They note that, while sniffer dogs are ‘sensitive and efficient biosensors’ for detecting narcotics, they are costly and also take a long time to train.

‘Additionally, because there is a social relationship between the dog and its handlers, reactions can be biased by the trainer or operator, which can lead to subjective false positive or negative responses,’ they add. 

In addition, the legalisation of recreational cannabis in certain US states means that a sniffer dog ‘alert’ is no longer enough to indicate illegal narcotics.

‘The retraining of sniffer dogs to ignore cannabis is difficult and time consuming,’ they note.

BOMB-SNIFFING ELEPHANTS COULD SAVE LIVES 

Armed with a sharp sense of smell, dogs have a long history of detecting explosives for their human handlers, and soon there could be sniffer elephants too.

Researchers have found that the large mammals excel at identifying explosives by smell, stirring speculation about whether their extraordinary ability could save lives.

Elephants could be used to detect land mines in areas that have seen conflict and could even do so at a distance with the aid of drones.

The research was conducted in South Africa and involved the US military.

So instead, they looked at the ability of certain insects to detect particular odours.

Insects are able to do this using odourant-binding proteins (OBPs) on their antennae.

Odours are translated into an electrical signal when they are present, which gives information to the insect about what they are sniffing.

Working out what odours certain insects are susceptible to means they can be conditioned to link the detection with an obvious behavioural reaction.

In the case of honeybees, the team conditioned honeybees to avoid the smell of heroin by giving them an electric shock when they were confronted with it.

Putting bees in a chamber, the team found that they flew away from the odour of heroin when it was nearby.

After the testing, all the honeybees were released and found to behave normally.

The researchers don’t go so far as to say that police should carry around jars of bees to detect narcotics just yet.

But they do suggest that a ‘sensor device’ containing 40 honeybees conditioned in this way could be used, with between 80 and 95 per cent accuracy.

While sniffer dogs (stock image shown) are ‘sensitive and efficient biosensors’ for detecting narcotics, they are costly and also take a long time to train. In addition, the legalisation of recreational cannabis in certain US states means that a sniffer dog ‘alert’ is no longer enough to indicate illegal narcotics

The scientists don't go so far as to say police should carry around jars of bees to find drugs, but they do say that insects could be used at airport security checks (stock image shown) to indicate which luggage deserves further investigation from security officials

They note that, as insect antennae are ‘the most sensitive organs discovered thus far for the detection of volatile molecules,’ they could even be used to detect diseases and explosives.

And other insects - such as male European grapevine moths and Madagascar hissing cockroaches - could be used in tandem to increase the accuracy.

‘For example, a multi-chamber device containing honeybees and cockroaches could be used in airports to screen luggage for heroin, cocaine and amphetamines,’ the researchers said.

Air from the luggage would be passed over the insects and their behaviour would be analysed to select luggage for more detailed investigation.

‘Such a device could be used to support the activities of sniffer dogs by providing a more specific readout for particular classes of drugs,’ they conclude. 

The study was published in the journal Plos One.