This was posted on the IABPA newsgroup by a very trusted source that
being Tony Larkin from the UK. I thought I would pass it along. I
will continue to pass along anything else I see.

Steve


----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Tony Larkin <tony.larkin@...>
To: bloodstain-patterns@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 6, 2008 2:05:18 PM
Subject: RE: [bloodstain-patterns] Re: Bluestar Forensic


Mieke,

My lab did an extensive validation of bluestar vs luminol (grodsky)
and found that bluestar is far less sensitive than luminol, which
means there is the risk of missing evidence (this was all measured
using a luminometer for accuracy), whilst it did glow brighter at
higher concentrations of dilute blood (up to about 1 in 1000), this
dropped right off and at this dilution the luminol reaction got
brighter. If I recall correctly we also found that Bluestar reactions
faded a lot faster than luminol, particularly at higher dilutions of
blood - this is probably also due to its lack of sensitivity. In
addition preliminary studies also indicated that Bluestar was more
destructive to DNA, and as one of the readers has indicated the shear
cost of the product in conjunction with the above issues identified
has meant that our lab does not use Bluestar. This research was
presented at the IABPA conference in Middleburg and also in Corning
New York, and I think the abstract appears in the IABPA journal, so
you could look there for a summary. Also, it is worth noting that
luminol also does not need complete darkness, although better
reactions are observed when it is dark, but not as good as Bluestar
when there is some ambient light in the room. Given the digital
caprture systems our force uses and stitiching of images I don't see a
need to have ambient light in the room to show locations of reactions.
One day I will get around to publishing the research, but I think a
good study was conducted by McDaid et al and published in the Journal
of the Forensic Science Society, which you could also look up. I think
these authors obtained simialr results to our research.

I have a lot of experience using luminol both indoors and outdoors,
including grass, soils and in forests. If you email me at my work
address (anthony.larkin@ met.police. uk) I would be happy to help you
out and send you some of the details of our research into luminol vs
bluestar.

Regards

Tony Larkin
Lead Scientist
Metropolitan Police Service
London
England

============ ========= ========= ========= =
Message Received: Jul 30 2008, 04:07 PM
From: "Patrick Cicero" <p_cicero@hotmail. com>
To: bloodstain-patterns @yahoogroups. com
Cc:
Subject: RE: [bloodstain- patterns] Re: Bluestar Forensic


Mieke,

We have been using Bluestar for some time. We have used it during
investigations as well as training settings. I would respectfully
disagree with Bob in regards to the similarities to luminol. I have
always obtained better, longer, and brighter reactions than luminol.
Please refer to the Bluestar Forensics website, ariticles published
with the IAI, and other reference materials, and you will be able to
determine its effectiveness based upon the numerous studies already
done. Thank you.

Detective Patrick Cicero
LaPorte County Sheriff's Office



To: bloodstain-patterns @yahoogroups. comFrom: bobbonczek@yahoo.
comDate: Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:45:59 +0000Subject: [bloodstain-
patterns] Re: Bluestar Forensic




Hello Mieke,We discovered Blue Star at a professional conference and
were interested in its claims about how much better it is as opposed
to luminol. So our lab did a little experiment comparing luminol to
Blue Star and found there to be no difference with regards to
intensity of the fluorescence or the longetivity of the fluorescence.
It was under controlled conditions in the laboratory on know blood
samples. We found the convenience of mixing Blue Star did not outweigh
the heavy cost of the product.Bob --- In bloodstain-patterns
@yahoogroups. com, "miekedekens" <miekedekens@ ...> wrote:>> hello,> >
I am a Master student at Bournemouth University in England. For my >
masters in Forensic archaeology I am doing research on the
preservation > of bloodstains in outdoor environments, such as grass
for example.To > detect the blood I am using Bluestar Forensic.> > Is
there anyone that has had experience with either outdoor crime >
scenes and bloodstains in that environment? Or just experience with >
Bluestar Forensic in general? Any information would be very helpful.>
> Thank you very much.> > Regards,> > Mieke Dekens>