"(Our) big hope is to turn away thieves at the front door, when they discover the prevention sticker included in the smartDNA kits."
STONY BROOK, NY (PRWEB) July 17, 2014
Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: APDN), (Twitter: @APDN), a provider of DNA-based anti-counterfeiting technology and product authentication solutions, noted today that its novel program to prevent theft of home assets with DNA-based marks in Stockholm, Sweden, has drawn coverage on national TV in that country.
A clip from Swedish TV Station ABC may be viewed here:
http://youtu.be/PWx6SVJky5o
The trial is similar to a program in London. The technology has been proven in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to be a powerful deterrent to crime, based on its strong conviction rate. Law enforcement and legislators in the US and in at least three other countries in Europe have expressed interest in the system.
Since February of this year, APDN has created what it calls a DNA-Protected Community in Stockholm, Sweden, in a trial collaboration with the Stockholm Police and three large insurance companies. Five hundred houses in the Tyresö district of Stockholm have been protected.
Volunteers, neighborhood associations, and pawnbrokers are all cooperating in the program.
The trial project, known as MärkDNA, features a technology that uses DNA-based forensic marking to help link a criminal to his crime. With assistance of the police, valuable assets and homes are marked with a unique technology called smartDNA (branded elsewhere as DNANet). Although invisible on the object, the mark may be scanned with a UV light, or sent to a lab for forensic examination. The result is solid evidence linking the stolen goods in the possession of the criminal to the home and the source of the crime. Other aspects of the program such as street signs and home signs alert would-be thieves to the protection.
Local police official Claes Stjernström told Swedish newspaper mitti Stockholm that his "big hope is to turn away thieves at the front door, when they discover the prevention sticker included in the smartDNA kits."
Aside from creating strong evidence, said Stjernström, smartDNA "makes it significantly more difficult for thieves to get paid for the stolen goods. All pawnbrokers have UV lamps which they must use to inspect items offered to them."
All police cars in Stockholm will be fitted with UV lights used to help find DNA-branded loot. Warning signage and other publicity in the protected communities will also act as a powerful crime deterrent.
The participating insurance companies sponsoring and financing the project are IF, TryggHansa, and Länsförsäkringar. Others have also expressed interest in joining.
About Safesolution SmartDNA AB
Safesolution SmartDNA AB is a Sweden-based company, which among other things, provides security management for businesses. We have a unique experience, both as a customer and a supplier to large, complex and vulnerable activities. We have been responsible for EU certification of Arlanda and Bromma airport after September 11. Our successful security strategies have reduced the number of cash in transit robberies throughout the country.
About Applied DNA Sciences
APDN is a provider of botanical-DNA based security and authentication solutions and services that can help protect products, brands, entire supply chains, and intellectual property of companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud and diversion. SigNature® DNA describes the uncopyable marker that is at the heart of all of our security and authentication solutions. SigNature DNA is at the core of a family of products such as DNAnet®, our anti-theft product, SigNature® T, targeted toward textiles, and digitalDNA®, providing powerful track and trace. All provide a forensic chain of evidence and can be used to prosecute perpetrators.
The statements made by APDN may be forward-looking in nature. Forward-looking statements describe APDN’s future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of APDN. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to our short operating history, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, market competition and various other factors detailed from time to time in APDN’s SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on December 20, 2013 (amended on May 1, 2014) and our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q/A (for the quarterly period ended December 31, 2013) and Form 10-Q. APDN undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.