Levels of cocaine present on bank notes across the globe
2008-08-06 15:20:03 (GMT) (Caymanmama.com - Business News)Memphis, Tennessee (CaymanMama.com) — According to a new study, United States dollar bills have taken the top spot in the contamination of illegal powder while the euro notes used in Spain also proved to be exceedingly contaminated.
The findings, given in detail in the journal of Trends in Analytical Chemistry, highlight the wide use of the illicit drug by the public, the analysts say.
Chemists Miguel de la Guardia and Sergio Armenta from Valencia University in Spain said, “These findings should not be surprising, because cocaine and other drugs are traded using cash, which is handled by the same fingers that directly touch the drugs or wrappings.” They further added, “Moreover, many cocaine users use a wrapped banknote to sniff this drug, so inducing direct cocaine contamination of the banknotes.”
Armenta and de la Guardia analyzed the Spanish notes – recognized by the serial numbers – for traces of cocaine, and found that they generally contained an average of 155 micrograms of cocaine. (One gram of cocaine can fill about half of a tea bag. One microgram is calculated around one millionth of the total amount.)
Along with this, they reviewed prior research in order to focus on the concentration of cocaine found in diverse currencies all over the world. German euros contain cocaine levels but still they are five times less than the Spanish currency notes. In case of the ire bank notes, one of the statistics suggested that when 48 bank notes were studied, a maximum concentration accessed in them was 0.5 micrograms.
The chemists found that U.S. bills contain an approximate level of about 28.8 to 29 micrograms of cocaine. This level greatly depends upon the factors of the city and country. The maximum level of cocaine above 13oo micrograms was found in some of the bank notes of 1996.
Another study based upon 356 notes actually showed that only about 6% of the Swiss francs were found to be contaminated.
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