Originally Posted by
Boggie Dog
So it seems that cross contamination caused by TSA employees is probably more the rule than the exception.
What good are these swabs anyhow? If it is true that TSA ETD systems alarm on the small content of hydrogen peroxide in a product such as Clear Care then the number of false alarms makes the devices impractical for any meaningful testing.
Cross contamination is probably something that happens, it would be impossible in a checkpoint setting to completely prevent it. We have training on it regularly to keep awareness up. The enviornment is probably responsible for some cross contamination as well, the air quality and dust levels in the checkpoints are miserable at most locations I have ever seen.
The swabs function just as they are designed, as a media to collect things, they are quite suited to that purpose.