Terrorists could attack aircraft with gel-filled brasKY Jelly: al-Qaeda's new weapon of fear?

By Lester Haines
Friday 8th September 2006
In the time-honoured Register tradition of offering terrorists top tips* on how to bring down airliners, we'd like this afternoon to draw al-Qaeda's attention to two possible ways of getting binary liquid explosives through security: gel-filled bras and KY Jelly.
Both, according to the US's Transport Security Administration list, are permitted items. Here's the full run-down:
Small amounts of baby formula and breast milk if a baby or small child is travelling
Liquid prescription medicine with a name that matches the passenger's ticket:
Up to 5 oz. (148ml) of liquid or gel low blood sugar treatment
Up to 4 oz. of essential non-prescription liquid medications including saline solution, eye care products and KY Jelly
Gel-filled bras and similar prostethics
Gel-filled wheelchair cushions
Life support and life sustaining liquids such as bone marrow, blood products, and transplant organs carried for medical reasons
Inclusion of gel-filled bras has a pretty simple explanation. They're commonly used as prosthetics for mastectomy patients, so there's a personal dignity issue here. Try this account of the indignity suffered by a 57-year-old cancer survivor en route to Majorca who was told that her "gel-filled breast would need to be checked in with baggage".
As for KY Jelly, well, we reckon it's pretty essential for those passengers wishing to enjoy a "mile-high lube job", but we think US officials should be aware that Jihadists could pack a standard tube with enough ricin to kill around four million guinea pigs. To put it in perspective, that's the equivalent of a six-foot-deep layer of dead guinea pigs covering an area the size of three football pitches. It's a chilling thought.