Living Today: Issues of modern living

MAKING A RUN FOR THE BORDER

Holiday travelers returning to the United States from Mexico are being advised to allow more time at inspection stations along the Southwest border.

Northbound traffic is traditionally heavy after the holidays, and the strict inspections instituted since Sept. 11 require more time, said U.S. Customs spokesman Roger Maier in El Paso. "It's a busy time in early January, and we are aware of that," he said. "With our Level One security alert we are trying to keep as many people out on the lines as possible."

Maier said 120 members of the Texas National Guard are assisting U.S. Customs and Immigration and Naturalization agents at the checkpoints. A group of Border Patrol officers is also helping out to keep the traffic moving as fast as possible.

Delays on Wednesday ranged from none at some points up to a maximum of 45 minutes at El Paso and Calexico, Calif., the Customs official said.

The returning traffic to the United States will be spread over several days rather than concentrated on one day because of several religious holidays observed south of the border.

Before Sept. 11, travelers were simply asked about their citizenship and whether they had anything to declare. Once those questions were answered, most vehicles or pedestrians were sent on their way. Now more questions are asked at the inspection stations, and every vehicle is inspected. Hoods and trunks are opened and inspectors check inside glove boxes, seats and other locations where contraband could be hidden.

The primary mission of U.S. Customs has become "anti-terrorism," Maier said. Although no evidence of terrorism has been uncovered so far along the Southwest border, seizures of illegal drugs have been up since Sept. 11 due to the exhaustive inspections, he said.

HOMELAND SECURITY

Broad political agreement on beefing up the ranks and training of America's firefighters and airport screeners -- the front-line troops in homeland security -- isn't likely to translate into more people on the job until at least the middle of this year, and perhaps much later.

Federal regulators are still drafting the rules that will govern such basics as what screeners will be paid and what exactly their jobs will entail, say Transportation Dept. officials who hope to start processing applications for those positions during the next few weeks. The goal is to hire tens of thousands of new screeners to protect passengers and planes at some 400 airports throughout the U.S., but the hiring can't start until the positions and standards for applicants are defined.

Meanwhile legislation that would fund hiring 75,000 new firefighters and first responders across the U.S. remains in House and Senate committees. Lawmakers will begin debate on the measure when they return from the holiday recess.

Only the bill's final contours are in doubt; the main idea enjoys support on both sides of the aisle. But the measure, known as the SAFER Act, for Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response, is designed only to start the process of filling the pipeline with new firefighters. It will take seven years and more than $7.5 billion to reach that 75,000 figure once the bills -- HR 3185 in the House and S 1617 in the Senate -- wind their way out of committee, are approved on the floors of both chambers, and have any differences ironed out in a House-Senate conference committee.

Still, there's some help already on the way, said Andrew White, who tracks legislative issues for the International Association of Fire Chiefs. One of the lawmakers' last official acts before leaving for recess was to pass a supplemental spending bill that funded a wide array of homeland security initiatives. That included adding $210 million to the $150 million Congress approved in August for the Assistance to Firefighters program run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

NEW LIE DETECTOR TEST

An experimental new lie detector that measures sudden flashes of heat from around the eyes may soon provide another line of defense against terrorism.

"This is the first technology that allows lying to be measured or lying to be detected without any contact with the subject whatsoever instantaneously, in real time," said lead researcher James Levine, an endocrinologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. "You don't need to hook them up to anything -- you don't need any sophisticated experts to analyze the data."

The researchers say prototypes of the device may aid security operations within the next two years, in areas such as airports and border checkpoints.

The device consists of a high-definition thermal imaging camera the size of a shoebox. The scientists also have developed a miniaturized version of the camera, roughly the diameter of a postage stamp. Both are hooked up to a filing cabinet's worth of computer hardware.

"As people lie, there is a massive increase in blood flow around the eyes, and associated with that there is sudden warming around the eyes, where the color changes to white in the thermal imaging system," Levine explained.

The researchers made their discovery accidentally three years ago while studying, of all things, gum chewing. They were using the thermal imaging device to study the facial muscles at work to analyze how physical activity affected metabolism.

"We got these beautiful thermal images every time someone chewed gum, and by accident we detected the very subtle changes that occur in the face with fearfulness -- there was a loud bang when a book fell on the lab floor," Levine told UPI. "The changes in the face that came with that were very consistent with several individuals. And we thought, 'My goodness, if this can detect these very subtle changes instantaneously, perhaps we can see these same changes with lying.'"

But Levine is concerned about the potential ethical ramifications of the technology if it ever becomes developed for the open market. "If this technology really becomes developed to the desktop phase, you could be sitting in front of your boss and he could ask you 'Do you think you can meet your deadline?' And you can say, 'Sure, of course,' and he'd say, 'I know you're lying,'" Levine told UPI. "Or, on a date, one's boyfriend could say to a person, 'Are you serious about wanting to get married?' and when she answers the question, she's being photographed."

"On the other hand, when thinking about the possibility of someone with explosives in his shoes boarding a plane, given the technology's security potential, I think most of us would want this application to be accelerated as quickly as possible," Levine added. "We're making advances in science, and I think the ethical issues need to be dealt with when the advances are being made. Otherwise ethics gets left behind," he said.

The researchers reported their findings in the journal Nature.

(Thanks to UPI's Charles Choi in New York)

NEW CHRYSLER ADS

In its pursuit of what it considers an important demographic group, Chrysler says it's unveiling the second phase of an advertising campaign specifically targeting and pitching its vehicles to the Asian-American community in California.

Print and television advertisements for the 2002 Dodge Caravan will debut Feb. 4 in the San Francisco Bay area and will be a follow-up to a Chinese-language campaign for the Jeep Liberty that is being run through March in the Los Angeles area.

"The Asian-American market is one of the fastest growing and most affluent in America, especially on the West Coast," Jeff Bell, Chrysler Group vice president of Marketing Communications, said in a release. "This pilot ad campaign for the Dodge Caravan and Jeep Liberty will give us a better understanding of Asian-American consumers, and position the company to gain share in this important market."

The Caravan campaign was developed by the Imada Wong Communications Group of Los Angeles and also includes other promotions aimed specifically at the Asian market, such as the "Jeep 101" events staged at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds last November and scheduled for the Asia America Expo in Pomona next month.

"Chrysler Group recognizes that ethnic consumers are now an integral part of America's new general market and is responding accordingly to address them in a culturally relevant manner," said Bill Imada, president of Imada Wong.

(Thanks to UPI's Hil Anderson in Los Angeles)