DOJ
Financial Fraud Section

CIRCUIT COURT OF OREGON
MARION COUNTY
STATE OF OREGON, ex rel
HARDY MYERS, Attorney General
for the State of Oregon,

Plaintiff,

v.

TRADENET MARKETING, INC., a
Florida corporation; TOP
MARKETING BUSINESS CONSULTING
INCORPORATED, a Florida
corporation; AMERICAN
TECHNOLOGIES GROUP, INC., a
Nevada corporation; and
L.W. COOPER and ERWIN RICHARD
ANNAU, individuals,

Defendants.

)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)



No.

AFFIDAVIT OF
ANDREW W. BLACKWOOD
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

COUNTY OF CHESTER
)
)
)
ss .:

ANDREW W. BLACKWOOD, being first duly sworn, deposes and says:

1. I am the Vice President, Technical, of Structure Probe, Inc. ("Structure Probe"). Structure Probe is an independent analytical laboratory specializing in the application of electron microscopy to problem solving for industry, government, academia, and the law. Structure Probe also operates SPI Supplies, a worldwide supplier of laboratory consumables and small instruments for electron microscopy. Among our products are grids and support films for transmission electron microscopy.

2. Structure Probe Technical Report #34674 ("the Report") accurately describes the results of tests and analyses conducted, and conclusions reached, by Structure Probe under my supervision. A copy of the Report is attached as Exhibit "1" to this affidavit. A copy of my resume is attached as Exhibit "2" to this affidavit. This affidavit briefly describes the work that underlies the Report and some of its conclusions.

3. Structure Probe received from the Oregon Department of Justice ("the Department") several samples of "IE crystals," reportedly a new substance or phenomenon, and the supporting literature, including published and unpublished papers of Dr. Shui­Yin Lo and several documents titled "R&D Reports" of American Technologies Group, Inc. ("ATG"). The samples analyzed for the Report were obtained from examples of both "The Laundry Solution" or "Globe" and the "SuperGlobe," and also included two vials of water, described as with and without IE' and said to have been supplied directly by ATG.

4. The specific analytical methods used to examine for the presence of " IE Structures" were transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive x­ray spectroscopy (EDS) in the scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM), using a modification of the asbestos in water method of the EPA 600 Interim Procedure, a widely used method for characterizing the particulate content of water; and ultraviolet spectroscopy.

5. Structure Probe found no support for the claim that the presence of the SuperGlobe promotes the formation of IE structures, and no support for the claim that those structures exist in any of the samples. No structures were observed in the SuperGlobe or in either of the vials supplied by ATG. Having reviewed the supporting materials, I conclude further that there is no theoretical basis for believing that the structures described as "IE" do or could exist, let alone be stable, at room temperatures or anything approaching room temperatures.

6. The blue liquid and its molded container were analyzed using bulk chemical analysis and infrared spectroscopy techniques. The SuperGlobe sample analyzed was essentially water plus a blue dye, and may possibly also contain some peroxide. The container is polyethylene, an insulating material. Any claim that the container can both isolate the water and permit the emission of an electric field, as claimed in some of the promotional materials, conflicts with basic scientific principles, including the laws of thermodynamics and the conventional understanding of electricity.

7. Based on my professional background and training and extensive experience with electron microscopy, it is my opinion that the structures displayed in photographs of the literature I reviewed in connection with the Report depict microorganisms. My colleagues and I at Structure Probe, and other professionals in the field who work extensively with carbon support films for electron microscopy, customarily refer to such structures as "bacteria," though they may be another form of microorganism. These structures may spontaneously appear after exposure of water to ambient laboratory conditions, and they can be caused to disappear by ultra­filtration or by the application of ozone and UV radiation as prescribed in the EPA Method we used. I do not believe these structures constitute a new form of matter or support for the existence of a new form of matter as described in the articles by Dr. Shui­Yin Lo and ATG that we reviewed.

8. We find using the laboratory techniques of transmission electron microscopy and ultraviolet spectroscopy that we obtain similar results for water claimed to contain "IE" structures as for West Chester, Pennsylvania tap water. We do not find these results in deionized water unless it has been allowed to age under ambient laboratory conditions.

/s/ _________________________________
ANDREW W. BLACKWOOD      

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN to before me this 28th day of October, 1997.

Go to Blueball Press Release

Return to:
Information Menu Main Menu
Complaint Form Hotline

Updated 11/12/97