No not the UK’s DHS by the US Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate has now started funding a project known as the Cell-All initiative reports an article over on fiercemobileit.

Apparently the Cell-All initiative looks to equip mobile phones with a sensor which is capable of detecting dangerous chemicals and only at a small cost to the mobile phone maker of roughly $1 a sensor.

According to the article the DHS S&TD is chasing cooperative research and development agreements with 4 mobile phone makers, Apple, Samsung, LG and Qualcomm with a view to accelerate commercialisation of the future, and hopes to have up to 40 working prototypes that can detect fire and carbon monoxide within a year.

Word has it 3 teams from NASA, Qualcomm and Rhevision Technology are working on various areas of the Cell-All initiative with Qualcomm working on miniaturising the concept to bring it to the mobile phone market. Rhevision has developed an artificial nose, a piece of porous silicon which changes colour when certain molecules are close, while NASA’s Ames Research Centre is working on the chemical sensing piece on low powered platforms.