As a child, my mom always warned me never to put money in my mouth and always wash my hands after handling it. Though I doubt she had scientific evidence for the caution, apparently her intuition was spot on.
On Aug. 16 the American Chemical Society released the results of a new study in which it found traces of cocaine on up to 90 percent of U.S. bank notes. The findings showed the highest numbers in large cities such as Baltimore, Boston and Detroit. Greenbacks from Washington, D.C., had a 95 percent rate of contamination.
The scientists also ran tests on banknotes from more than 30 cities in five countries, including the U.S., Canada, Brazil, China and Japan. Those results indicated strong evidence of cocaine use in many areas.
"The U.S. and Canada had the highest levels, with an average contamination rate of between 85 and 90 percent, while China and Japan had the lowest, between 12 and 20 percent contamination," the researchers report.
“To my surprise, we’re finding more and more cocaine in banknotes,” said study leader Yuegang Zuo, Ph.D., of the University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth.
Zuo says that the high percentage of contaminated U.S. currency observed in the current study represents nearly a 20 percent jump in comparison to a similar study he conducted two years ago. That earlier study indicated that 67 percent of bills in the U.S. contained traces of cocaine.
Zuo said that the increases of cocaine found on bills might be related to the economic downturn, with stressed people turning to cocaine.
Luckily, it's still safe to give my child money to fill her piggy bank.
"Despite the high percentage of cocaine-contaminated banknotes, Zuo points out that the amount of cocaine found on most notes was so small that consumers should not have any health or legal concerns about handling paper money.
“For the most part, you can’t get high by sniffing a regular banknote, unless it was used directly in drug uptake or during a drug exchange,” Zuo said. “It also won’t affect your health and is unlikely interfere with blood and urine tests used for drug detection.”TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Dr. Ayala
SVCinNYC
Tim4change
Amy A
Trudge164
Catherine Forsythe
Salon.com
Comments
"Scientists have known for years that paper money can become contaminated with cocaine during drug deals and directly through drug use such as snorting cocaine through rolled bills. Contamination can spread to banknotes not involved in the illicit drug culture because bills are processed in banks’ currency-counting machines.
"Previous studies on cocaine in banknotes, however, had several drawbacks. They often were based on sampling only a small number of banknotes, for instance. Some tests destroyed the currency.
"In the new study, Zuo and colleagues describe use of a modified form of a standard laboratory instrument termed a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. It allows a faster, simpler and more accurate measurement of cocaine contamination than other methods, without destroying the currency.