NYT : A Company Prospers by Saving Poor People’s Lives

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/03/health/research/03prof.html?pagewanted=1&em
The New York Times reports on prosperity by companies making goods for the aid industry - one company described makes the "life straw" a 10-inch plastic cylinder that filters out or kills bacteria, parasites and some viruses and can be made for less than $3.

"Early versions used iodine beads and a charcoal filter to lessen the iodine taste. New ones use hollow-fiber technology. To promote the straws, Torben has let television crews film him drinking out of Copenhagen’s canals and even a toilet. “That was awful,” he admitted. “It was a ladies’ toilet, and they put in some odor chemical to make it smell better, and LifeStraw doesn’t take out chemicals. And the canals have salt from the seawater. It can’t filter that, so I drank a lot of salt.” Aid agencies have bought tens of thousands for use after the Myanmar cyclone and earthquakes in Asia. The company now makes a bigger version that filters five gallons an hour with no iodine aftertaste and will last a typical family three years."