WALTHAM, Mass., Apr 23, 2002 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- Thermo Electron Corporation (NYSE: TMO) announced that Germany's Ministry of Interior has chosen the company's Thermo Detection-brand EGIS III system for explosives trace-detection in German airports. The Ministry made the selection after reviewing the results of a European Civil Aviation Consortium (ECAC) competitive performance test, which evaluated a number of different explosives trace detectors. The ECAC is the European counterpart to the United States Federal Aviation Administration.
"We are very pleased that the German government has chosen to standardize on the EGIS III," said Richard F. Syron, chairman and chief executive officer of Thermo Electron. "EGIS III reportedly outperformed the competition in the ECAC's head-to-head comparison. In awarding this contract, the German government has demonstrated that they value the EGIS system's sensitivity, ease-of-use, low false-positive rate, and ability to detect ICAO taggants. Our EGIS 3000, the predecessor to the EGIS III, has been the standard in German airports for nearly a decade."
As a result of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Treaty of 1991, signed by 39 countries, many manufacturers of military explosives are now adding chemical markers known as taggants, in the manufacturing process to assist detection. The EGIS is currently the only explosives-detection system on the market that can effectively detect ICAO taggants.
The EGIS detects traces of explosives by analyzing the chemical properties of sub-microscopic particles collected by wiping an object, such as a laptop computer. The EGIS can also play an important role in helping to meet the US Government's requirement of 100 percent checked baggage screening. When combined with an automated bulk explosives detection system, the EGIS performs a more accurate secondary analysis on bags determined to be suspicious by the primary scan, significantly reducing the number of manual searches. Bulk explosives systems attempt to match the outline to a pattern -- a pipe or detonator device, for example -- and look for a density change within the scanned item. But these systems rely on inference, not chemical analysis to determine the presence of a bomb. And many everyday items can appear suspect. Using EGIS to perform chemical analysis on suspicious items in conjunction with a bulk detector provides airports with maximum baggage throughput, without sacrificing security.
In 1989, Thermo Electron introduced its first EGIS trace detector, developed with funds from the U.S. Department of State. The EGIS, which won a Presidential Design Award in 1992, can detect and identify plastic, commercial, and military explosives, as well as ICAO taggants in seconds. The EGIS has become the trace-detection standard throughout Europe for airport screening of bags and electronic items. It has been used to protect embassies in troublespots worldwide, deployed to screen British Rail freight traveling through the Channel Tunnel, in Israel to ensure maximum security at border crossings, and in mailrooms to screen suspicious packages. As part of the unprecedented levels of security at the 2002 Olympic Games, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) used EGIS to search for explosives and ensure the safety of athletes and spectators. In addition, law enforcement agencies, such as the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), and forensic laboratories use EGIS routinely on-site and in the lab for post-blast investigation to determine the type and origin of explosives.
Thermo Electron Corporation is a global leader in providing technology- based instruments, components, and systems that offer total solutions for markets ranging from life sciences to telecommunications to food, drug, and beverage production. The company's powerful technologies help researchers sift through data to make discoveries that will fight disease or prolong life. They allow manufacturers to fabricate critical components required to increase the speed and quality of communications. And they automatically monitor and control online production to ensure that quality standards are met safely and efficiently. Thermo Electron, based in Waltham, Massachusetts, reported $2.2 billion in revenues in 2001 and employs approximately 12,000 people worldwide. For more information on Thermo Electron, visit http://www.thermo.com.
The following constitutes a "Safe Harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward- looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements are set forth under the heading "Risk Factors" in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 29, 2001. These include risks and uncertainties relating to: integration of the company's instrument businesses, implementation of the company's strategies for improving internal growth, the company's guarantee of obligations of a subsidiary that was spun off, the effect of exchange rate fluctuations on international operations, potential impairment of goodwill, the need to develop new products and adapt to significant technological change, dependence on customers that operate in cyclical industries, the effect of changes in governmental regulations, and dependence on customers' capital spending policies and government funding policies. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
SOURCE Thermo Electron Corporation
CONTACT: Caroline Grossman of Thermo Electron, +1-781-622-1252,
cgrossman@thermo.com
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