# Telegraph article: 'odourprinting' could be used to identify people

**URL:** <https://pheromonetalk.com/t/telegraph-article-odourprinting-could-be-used-to-identify-people/22832>\
**Category:** Lounge\
**Created:** [November 13, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/telegraph-article-odourprinting-could-be-used-to-identify-people/22832 "2008-11-13T02:10:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![chads](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/2acd7d/32.png) [@chads](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/chads)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/telegraph-article-odourprinting-could-be-used-to-identify-people/22832/1 "2008-11-13T02:10:25Z")

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‘Odourprinting’ could be used to identify people - Telegraph ([http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3414573/Odourprinting-could-be-used-to-identify-people.html](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/3414573/Odourprinting-could-be-used-to-identify-people.html))  
‘Odourprinting’ could be used to identify people  
Human beings could one day be identified by our smells, according to research that shows individual “odourprints” cannot be masked by diet.

By Matthew Moore  
Last Updated: 5:16PM GMT 10 Nov 2008  
“Nice to smell you’”: Human beings could one day be identified by odour Photo: CLAIRE LIM  
Every person has a unique fragrance, similar to a fingerprint or DNA sample, which could be used to create a database of human scents, scientists said.  
Eating powerful foods such as chili or garlic may change how we smell, but it does not disguise our underlying genetically-determined aroma, tests on mice have shown. Creatures who were given strong-smelling foods were still recognised by their peers.  
The signature smells may have evolved to help in choosing mates and marking out territories.  
Jae Kwak, lead author of the study at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, said that the research suggested that “odourprinting” could soon have a practical use.  
“These findings indicate that biologically based odourprints, like fingerprints, could be a reliable way to identify individuals,” he said.  
“If this can be shown to be the case for humans, it opens the possibility that devices can be developed to detect individual odourprints in humans.”  
The tests used chemical analyses of urine as well as “sensor” mice trained to use their sense of smell to choose between pairs of test mice, who were fed different foods. The results were published in the online journal PLoS ONE.

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**Author:** ![Wrlprchnx](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/pheromonetalk.com/wrlprchnx/32/1360_2.png) [@Wrlprchnx](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Wrlprchnx)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 8:45pm UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/telegraph-article-odourprinting-could-be-used-to-identify-people/22832/2 "2008-11-13T20:45:33Z")

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I wonder if [synthetic pheromones](https://pheromonelabs.com/shop/) would screw up their “genetic odourprint”?

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**Author:** ![Phya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Phya](https://pheromonetalk.com/u/Phya)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://pheromonetalk.com/t/telegraph-article-odourprinting-could-be-used-to-identify-people/22832/3 "2008-11-14T01:35:44Z")

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You mean like how dogs can smell people and distinguish them??? We’ve been using smell to identify people for a while. I’m there were plenty of people back in the day with stories about Bloodhounds tracking people down.

Old technology if you ask me. 😛 😃