muthmainnah
Junior Member
This is one of many reasons to always wash your hands after handling money, especially if you are going to eat or handle a baby. Also, another reason to not let children play with money. An alternative can be to use credit/debit card for normal purchases, and cash for intimate (womanly) purchases. Although the card use will allow the gov. create your purchase taste, item, location profile and spending habits.
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Highest Traces of Cocaine Found on U.S. Bills Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience. com
Paper money contains high traces of cocaine, regardless of whether or not the paper money came into direct contact with the drug. And U.S. bills take the top spot, covered in the greatest amount of the illegal powder, while Spanish notes are the most highly contaminated in Europe, a new study finds.
The findings, detailed in the latest issue of the journal Trends in Analytical Chemistry, reflect the popularity of the illicit drug, the researchers say.
"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," chemists Sergio Armenta and Miguel de la Guardia from the University of Valencia in Spain write. "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 Spanish notes for cocaine traces, finding they contained an average of 155 micrograms of cocaine. (A gram of cocaine would fill about half a tea bag. A microgram is one-millionth of that amount.)
They also reviewed previous research focusing on cocaine concentrations found in different currencies around the world.
German Euros contained levels of cocaine that were five times lower than the Spanish ones.
For Irish bank notes, one statistic suggested that of 48 notes studied the highest concentration found was 0.5 micrograms.
The chemists found U.S. bills contained an average of between 2.9 and 28.8 micrograms of cocaine depending on the year and city, with a maximum of more than 1,300 micrograms found on some 1996 bills.
One study based on 356 notes showed just 6 percent of Swiss francs were contaminated with cocaine at levels above one nanogram per note, where a nanogram is one-thousandth of a microgram. Some data suggest, the researchers found, that between 40 percent and about 50 percent of British pounds were contaminated with cocaine at levels of about 0.0011 micrograms per note.
It turns out, money really is dirty, and not just with drug traces. One past study revealed 94 percent of $1 bills collected from a community in western Ohio contained disease-causing or potentially disease-causing bacteria. The study, published in 2002 in the Southern Medical Journal, was led by Peter Ender, chief of infectious diseases at Wright-Patterson Medical Center in Ohio.
That's not too surprising, as $1 bills stay in circulation for an average of 21 months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, during which time they get handled by plenty of people. For larger bills, the life span is even longer, with $20 bills lasting about 24 months and $50 bills staying in circulation for 55 months.
When you handle coins, stuff also gets transferred to your hands, though it's mainly iron atoms (iron is one of the metals in change). Another research study revealed iron atoms from coins cause oils on your skin to break down, producing a "metallic" odor.
Top 10 Rare Coins 10 Easy Paths to Self Destruction Video: Is Addiction in Your Genes?
Original Story: Highest Traces of Cocaine Found on U.S. Bills
Visit LiveScience. com for more daily news, views and scientific inquiry with an original, provocative point of view. LiveScience reports amazing, real world breakthroughs, made simple and stimulating for people on the go. Check out our collection of Science, Animal and Dinosaur Pictures, Science Videos, Hot Topics, Trivia, Top 10s, Voting, Amazing Images, Reader Favorites, and more. Get cool gadgets at the new LiveScience Store, sign up for our free daily email newsletter and check out our RSS feeds today!
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/livescience/ 20080805/ sc_livescience/ highesttracesofc ocainefoundonusb ills&printer=1;_ylt= ApNM0K8rsfD5QoT2 _j6tXSmzvtEF
********************
Highest Traces of Cocaine Found on U.S. Bills Jeanna Bryner
LiveScience. com
Paper money contains high traces of cocaine, regardless of whether or not the paper money came into direct contact with the drug. And U.S. bills take the top spot, covered in the greatest amount of the illegal powder, while Spanish notes are the most highly contaminated in Europe, a new study finds.
The findings, detailed in the latest issue of the journal Trends in Analytical Chemistry, reflect the popularity of the illicit drug, the researchers say.
"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," chemists Sergio Armenta and Miguel de la Guardia from the University of Valencia in Spain write. "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 Spanish notes for cocaine traces, finding they contained an average of 155 micrograms of cocaine. (A gram of cocaine would fill about half a tea bag. A microgram is one-millionth of that amount.)
They also reviewed previous research focusing on cocaine concentrations found in different currencies around the world.
German Euros contained levels of cocaine that were five times lower than the Spanish ones.
For Irish bank notes, one statistic suggested that of 48 notes studied the highest concentration found was 0.5 micrograms.
The chemists found U.S. bills contained an average of between 2.9 and 28.8 micrograms of cocaine depending on the year and city, with a maximum of more than 1,300 micrograms found on some 1996 bills.
One study based on 356 notes showed just 6 percent of Swiss francs were contaminated with cocaine at levels above one nanogram per note, where a nanogram is one-thousandth of a microgram. Some data suggest, the researchers found, that between 40 percent and about 50 percent of British pounds were contaminated with cocaine at levels of about 0.0011 micrograms per note.
It turns out, money really is dirty, and not just with drug traces. One past study revealed 94 percent of $1 bills collected from a community in western Ohio contained disease-causing or potentially disease-causing bacteria. The study, published in 2002 in the Southern Medical Journal, was led by Peter Ender, chief of infectious diseases at Wright-Patterson Medical Center in Ohio.
That's not too surprising, as $1 bills stay in circulation for an average of 21 months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing, during which time they get handled by plenty of people. For larger bills, the life span is even longer, with $20 bills lasting about 24 months and $50 bills staying in circulation for 55 months.
When you handle coins, stuff also gets transferred to your hands, though it's mainly iron atoms (iron is one of the metals in change). Another research study revealed iron atoms from coins cause oils on your skin to break down, producing a "metallic" odor.
Top 10 Rare Coins 10 Easy Paths to Self Destruction Video: Is Addiction in Your Genes?
Original Story: Highest Traces of Cocaine Found on U.S. Bills
Visit LiveScience. com for more daily news, views and scientific inquiry with an original, provocative point of view. LiveScience reports amazing, real world breakthroughs, made simple and stimulating for people on the go. Check out our collection of Science, Animal and Dinosaur Pictures, Science Videos, Hot Topics, Trivia, Top 10s, Voting, Amazing Images, Reader Favorites, and more. Get cool gadgets at the new LiveScience Store, sign up for our free daily email newsletter and check out our RSS feeds today!
http://news. yahoo.com/ s/livescience/ 20080805/ sc_livescience/ highesttracesofc ocainefoundonusb ills&printer=1;_ylt= ApNM0K8rsfD5QoT2 _j6tXSmzvtEF
