Shrimp shells and vinegar may become staples for U.S. Army troops in Iraq, not as rations but in a new bandage that staunches heavy bleeding in minutes.
A team of scientists based in Portland, Ore., who were searching for a solution to an age-old problem of how to keep soldiers from bleeding to death on the battlefield, stumbled on the kitchen pantry combination and, through high-tech wizardry, turned it into a super-sticky, combat-ready field dressing.
HemCon Inc., the company Dr. Gregory formed with retired U.S. Colonel Bill Wiesmann, a former director of the army's combat casualty care unit, has taken orders for 10,000 of the bandages, which won expedited Food and Drug Administration approval last month. The first shipments will go to U.S. soldiers in the Persian Gulf in case of a war there.
