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Temporary tattoo detects spiked drinks in just one second [1]

['Ellsworth Toohey']

Date: 2025-07-23

A temporary tattoo that alerts you if someone has spiked your drink could be coming to a bar near you – and it works in just one second.

The innovative sticker, developed by Korean scientists, looks like a decorative temporary tattoo but packs serious protective power. Just dip your finger in your drink, touch the sticker, and if it turns red, that gin and tonic has been tampered with. The design offers a significant advantage over current testing methods, which can be awkward to use in social settings or take several minutes to show results.

"These drugs are colorless and tasteless, inducing a stupor in the victim that's similar to severe alcohol intoxication," the researchers explain in their report published by the American Chemical Society. The sticker detects GHB, one of the most common drugs used in drink spiking, at microscopic levels, well before an amount that could cause harm.

The technology works in everything from coffee to cocktails, and the red warning color remains visible for up to 30 days—an important feature if evidence is needed later. Unlike clunky test strips or cards that scream "I don't trust this situation," the tattoo design offers a way to check drinks discreetly with just a casual finger dip.

The researchers say the stickers are cheap to produce and could hit the market soon. Given that drink spiking remains an ever-present threat – even among friends and acquaintances – this fashionable safety measure couldn't come at a better time.

Previously:

• Beautiful microscope photographs of drugs, legal and illegal: LSD, caffeine, GHB, meth, and more.

• Dr. Bronner defends Germs' drummer against GHB charge

• Toy company that made beads coated with date-rape drug loses lawsuit

• Recall ordered for toy that turns into drug

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