MAKES PLASTIC DETECTABLE New chemical boon for X-ray technology by ROBIN LUDLOW Southam News DALLAS — Plastic guns will soon show up on airport X-ray* machines and doctors will be able to spot swallowed plastic toy parts in children because of a newly discovered chemical. The inability of X-rays to “see” plastic has long been a problem for doctors and more recently for airport security. But the new additive, mixed with plastic during manufacture, will go a long way toward solving those problems, the American Chemical Society heard Tuesday. “The possibilities are tremendous,” said chemist Dr. Johannes Smid who, with colleagues at the State University of New York in Syracuse, developed the compound called triphenylbismuth. It makes plastic more* visible than aluminum to X-rays so plastic weapons, swallowed fragments of plastic dentufes and toys, and objects that can cause problems in the body — plastic bullets, catheters, implants, bone adhesives, sutures and artificial veins — will dll be easily detected, Smid said. Plastic implants can slip out of place or degenerate and up to now, surgery has been the only recourse to pinpoint a problem. The new additive mixes perfectly and permanently with a wide variety of commercial plastics, Smid said. It doesn’t break down with heat, is not affected by water, doesn’t cause cancer, serves as a flame retardant and also helps kill bacteria and fungus. • Smid said it could also be added to paints used in hospitals, for example, to prevent the growth and spread of bacteria and fungi. Previous experimental X-ray contrast additives such as glass, heavy metal salts and other chemicals did not mix properly and produced an inferior plastic, Smid said. The chemical wouldn’t be needed in all plastics but would be welcome in medical and dental devices and could be required by law in plastic guns, bullets and knives. *3 Crime Stoppers will pay. up tfiX-$2000 for information leading ttr the arrest of someone involved In-a murder, robbery or other serious crime. YOU WILL NOT BE IDENTIFIED OR REQUIRED TO TESTIFY! gscmiMis |§ J»IT>I*I*1EUS q_ anonymity k caah rewards *£ Solve a crime... 564-TIPS jUse sought or salvaged If [locomotive VANCOUVER (CP) - Logging contractor Steve Crombie used empty diesel fuel tanks to raise a •submerged 180-tonne diesel-electric Jocomotive from the bottom of Se-fon Lake. ' The question now for Crombie is Iwhat to do with it. I Its previous owner, BC Rail, poesn’t want it. • And Crombie’s wife Mary says: .1 have jokingly called it Crom-hie’s folly. Maybe Steve will sell it for spares or for scrap.” j The locomotive and a sister unit ['(lunged into Seton Lake near Lil-ooet, about 160 kilometres northwest of Vancouver, after running ~to a rockfall on BC Rail’s main- % jne in 1980. i' One locomotive was raised by Jthe railway in May 1981, overhauled and returned to service. \ But the second unit, which was Jn 50 metres of water, could not be Raised because it hit a submerged fip of rock. t Railway president Mac Norris fsaid the company surrendered its fnterest in the unit in the lake. * “It isn’t so much the length of time it was in cold water that was flhe problem, but what happened to it, or didn’t happen to it, after it was raised,” Norris said. “You have to take prompt action after the air gets to it.” Crombie started his salvage efforts in 1987, aided by his son Terry, a 22-year-old medical student. Both men had to buy diving equipment and learn to use it. “My husband was determined to succeed after somebody at the .llni.ver.sity , of B.C. was quoted as la#ipg that theV wouldijlt ,be ,qble .y lo bring it up > s||dL. Tie production ir " VANCOUVER (CP) - Austra-^ lian resources giant Broken Hill Pty. has established a small manu-1 facturing plant north of Vancouver J to produce steel railway ties for ^ sale in North America, i > Production will start next week \ on an order for 45,000 ties from BC ; Rail, Fred Mau, president of BHP > |tail Products (Canada) Ltd., said ^Wednesday. The plant, which has been under ^construction since June, is rated to "420,000 ties' a year, but “we will Comfortably exceed that capacity,” wMau said. m._ The plant was built at Squamish, j\*about ,55 kilometres north of Vancouver on the BC Rail line, be-i cause BC Rail, which is installing * 100,000 steel ties on sharp curves fand turnouts through its 2,200-ki-j l.ometre system over the next five i years, is BHP’s launch customer in T North America. Mau said other U.S. and Cana-J ciian railways have expressed an | interest, including Canadian Na-! tional and Quebec, North Shore wand Labrador Railway in Eastern lanada. BC Rail began testing steel ties 1984. j \ WOOMW CORRECTION In Woodward’s SHOWTIME flyer, Page 18, item F, Short Knit Gown should read Short, Regular $22 SALE 15.99. Long Regular $26. SALE 19.99. Page 20, items A,B,C,F,G and H and Page 21, items C,D,E,F,G and H will not be available due to shipping problems. Page 23, Children's Shoes at 4.99 will not be available. Page 24, item F, Mustang Cruiser Vest does not come with velcro flaps. Page 26, item F Boy's or Girl's 20” BMX Bike does not come with kickstand. Page 33, item F will not be available at Woodward’s Penticton, Victoria, Coquitlam or Southgate stores due to shipping problems. Page 34, item A, 100% Cotton T Shirt is not as shown. Page 34, item B, Walking Shorts are cuffed. Page 45, 4 cu. ft. Wheelbarrow at 44.99 is not as shown, should read Broadcast Spreader SALE 49.99. Page 46, item A should read ‘international’ not 'professional' knives. Woodward's apologizes to its customers for any inconvenience these errors may have caused. BRIDGEPORT CARPETS THURS. & FRI. 9-S SAT. 9-6 SUN. 12-5 Over 400 in stock SALE Up tO Turf Green as grass SALE. OFF BEAUTIFUL LONG L ISTING CUT & L OOP Stain Relei ase 12 Decorat or colours SALE NATIO NAL BRAND SAXOMY Dupont Ce rtified StainmasU >r 24 designer * colours SALE ’31 99 SQ.YD Vinyls 12' vinyl, as low as ^0?L 12 mil, no wax ’7^ 20 mil, no wax SALE JT88 Mannington §/wg never wax ............“ HOME OF B.C.'s GUARANTEED LOWEST PRICES FREE STORAGE I BRIDGEPORT I SATISFACTION Gl 556 N. NECHAKO Rd. PRINCE GEORGE - 563-0338 ABBOTSFORD VICTORIA NANAIM BELLINGHAM KAMLOOPS RICHMOND CALGARY