Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2008/11/05/detergent_for_murders/

New cleaning products erase murder stains

Vanish™ - the detergent for killers

By Cade Metz

Posted in Bootnotes, 5th November 2008 23:00 GMT

Thanks to a new breed of detergent, getting away with murder isn't the daunting task it once was.

In the past, removing telltale murder stains was next to impossible. Even after multiple washes, blood-splattered clothing could still lead the police to your front door.

But according to experts at the University of Valencia, new washing powders that forsake chlorine in favor of sodium carbonate peroxyhydrate can tackle even the nastiest hemoglobin spots.

This includes Reckitt Benckiser's "Vanish," whose active ingredient churns out fizzy oxygen bubbles capable of washing away blood stains even when they're invisible to the naked eye.

It may wash away tough DNA stains too. The Valencia forensic boffins behind this murder stain research - recently published in the German journal Naturwissenschaften - hope to tackle DNA next.

But they don't advocate murder. "The majority of criminals are not that smart. They don't do things as you expect them to and read this kind of news. It is very simple to commit a crime, the difficult part is to not get caught," boffin Fernando Verdu told Reuters. ®