Ventana Research Corporation has developed technology that enables protective suits to essentially decontaminate themselves, removing a large threat of hazardous-materials handling. The firm has been working on projects to develop coatings on textiles and other surfaces that will self-decontaminate, countering biological and chemical weapons. One of the compounds developed by Ventana can be activated by visible light to create singlet oxygen, a particular molecular state of oxygen that has been found to have powerful antimicrobial properties. Beyond destroying bacteria, testing has shown the activated compound can disable chemical warfare agents such as mustard gas and nerve gas. The company is also offering its antimicrobial polymer as a replacement to Bisphenol A (BPA), a plastic that has been dropped from food containers because of health concerns but still widely used in the plastic coating that seals food cans.
