IT SMELLS like raw sewage mixed with putrefying cow’s carcass, and it might soon be Israel’s latest high-tech export. Skunk, as it is appositely called, has been used by Israeli soldiers since 2008 to disperse Palestinian protesters. Now it has attracted the interest of law-enforcement agencies in America which, after riots in Ferguson and Baltimore, crave better ways to scatter rioters without killing or injuring them.

The liquid, first developed by the Israeli police, is manufactured by Odortec, a pesticide specialist near Jerusalem. Made from a secret formula including yeast and protein, it was authorised for use on civilians by the Israeli attorney-general and the army’s medical corps. It is non-toxic and, the developers maintain, even drinkable—were it possible to ignore the stench. Those hit by Skunk have not reported any side effects beyond the difficulty of getting the smell out of their bodies and clothes for days.

Skunk has been used mainly to deal with the weekly protests against Israel’s “separation fence” that cuts through the West Bank; and increasingly over the past year at demonstrations in East Jerusalem. Sprayed from water-cannon, it has become the characteristic odour of Israeli-Palestinian confrontation.

B’Tselem, an Israeli human-rights group, reports that it found no health hazard, but still criticises it as a humiliating method used so far only against Palestinians. In some cases, it was sprayed on homes and shops in neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem in what B’Tselem calls “collective environmental punishment”. Israeli police insist it is used “carefully and very efficiently and prevents casualties to protesters and security personnel”.

Last July the Internal Security Ministry placed a follow-on order for Skunk, worth $45,000. So far the noisome substance has not been used abroad, though American police chiefs are regular visitors to see how riot-control is done in the Holy Land. A report this week that Skunk is now being sold to American local police departments was initially confirmed by a Maryland-based company claiming to be the vendor; but then swiftly retracted. The company’s website, which offered the stuff in various-sized canisters, has since gone offline. In Israel, Odortec’s phone was also out of order and inquiries sent through its website remained unanswered. Maybe the whole thing just smells too awful.