About 30 years ago, 3M came up with the microtaggant, a tiny, resilient plastic marker that measures one-tenth of a millimeter across. The multi-colored chips are unique to a manufacturer and can be used to identify a product's date of production and distributor. Today, the largest manufacturer of taggants is Microtrace. The EPA uses them to identify illegal industrial hazardous waste disposal. Polaroid (they make a lot more than film) uses taggant technology in identifications such as driver's licenses and passports. A pharmaceutical company is using microtaggants on labels to combat counterfeiting.
Taggants are fluorescent, magnetic, chemically inert, and able to withstand heat and explosions. This makes them ideal for the purpose of tracking an commercial explosive's source after detonation.
Bomb-scene investigators use an ultraviolet light or magnet to locate the taggants, then consult a database to match the color-coding with the manufacturer's information.
According to the ATF, "Since the 1970s, there have been various proposals to mark or 'tag' explosive materials for purposes of pre-blast detection or post-blast identification for use in investigating criminal bombings or attempted bombings. A 'taggant' or 'tracer element' can be a solid, liquid, or vapor emitting substance put into an explosive material for the purposes of detection or identification before an explosion occurs or for identification after an explosion occurs."
In his controversial crime bill, President Clinton granted $25 million for a taggant study. Section 732 of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 included studying taggants to prove (or disprove) that taggants would "not pose a risk to human life and safety; will substantially assist law enforcement officers in their investigative efforts; will not substantially impair the quality of the explosive materials for their intended lawful use; will not have a substantially adverse effect on the environment; and the costs associated with the addition of the tracers will not out weigh benefits of their inclusion."
How realistic is the use of taggants? If we dedicate resources to putting taggants in US commercial explosives, what is to stop criminal bombers from use alternative materials, including those purchased in other countries, and improvised devices? Will taggants be required in farm fertilizers such as ammonium nitrate? Also, the NRA is fighting inclusion of taggants in black powder, claiming it makes the material unstable. The ATF denies this claim, and that's a whole other can of worms.
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