Kids in England are reportedly skipping school now by using fake Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) Test results conducted using their favorite soda drink.
WND said kids are tricking their schools by taking opportunity of the pandemic through the use of the flaw in COVID-19 lateral flow tests (LFT) which uses a few drops of soda and even orange juice.
As per WND, a school in Liverpool, England has taken a Tiktok video that circulated in December on the use of soda for COVID-19 LFTs seriously and has warned parents about it. The school stressed that children might use the scheme to test themselves to fake being positive with COVID and skip school.
University of Hull Professor of Science, Mark Lorch, in an article in The Conversation, reported that children are "spoofing COVID-19 tests with soft drinks" along with fruit juices.
Lorch explained how the test works by explaining the different parts of the LFT device. The device has nitrocellulose, which is a strip of paper-like material and a small red pad with antibodies, which bind the COVID-19 virus, underneath the plastic casing that is below the T-line.
As per WND, the students conduct the test by mixing a few drops of the beverage with the liquid buffer solution. Buffer solutions "aim to keep your sample at an optimum pH before you drop it onto the papery strip provided with the kit."
Lorch tried the TikTok experiment, that soft drinks cause the test to come out with a red T-line to indicate a positive result because of the acidic nature of the beverage.
"A much more likely explanation is that something in the drinks is affecting the function of the antibodies. A range of fluids, from fruit juice to cola, have been used to fool the tests, but they all have one thing in common--they are highly acidic. The citric acid in orange juice, phosphoric acid in cola and malic acid in apple juice give these beverages a pH between 2.5 and 4. These are pretty harsh conditions for antibodies, which have evolved to work largely within the bloodstream, with its almost neutral pH of about 7.4," Lorch disclosed.
Lorch stressed that maintaining the "ideal pH for the antibodies is key to the correct function of the test." He pointed out that the critical role of the buffer when mixed with cola will debunk the "Austrian politician's claim that mass testing is worthless."
Lorch was referring to Austrian Parliament Member Michael Schnedlitz who demonstrated to other government officials the use of Coca Cola for RT-PCR tests last December. Schnedlitz wanted to prove that the test was faulty and a waste of government funding.
"Instead of throwing tens of millions of tax money out of the window for fault-prone mass testing, the government should have protected the risk groups--in elderly homes and nursing homes, for example," Schnedlitz said after conducting the demonstration.
"Is there then a way to spot a fake positive test? The antibodies (like most proteins) are capable of refolding and regaining their function when they are returned to more favourable conditions. So I tried washing a test that had been dripped with cola with buffer solution, and sure enough the immobilised antibodies at the T-line regained normal function and released the gold particles, revealing the true negative result on the test," Lorch said.
WND summarized that Lorch's experiment on the Tiktok video proved it false and stressed that kids can't actually use it at home.
