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da "www.canada.com"
August 17, 2009
A team of U.S. scientists has conducted tests showing that 85 per cent of Canadian currency carries traces of cocaine — a finding that puts this country's money on a virtual par with the U.S. for contamination by the powerful, powdery drug.
Researchers headed by University of Massachusetts chemist Yuegang Zuo, presenting their findings to the American Chemical Society convention in Washington, D.C., said the "alarming" results — higher than those in a previous study conducted only for U.S. banknotes — may reflect growing use of the narcotic in North America during an era of economic stress.
"I'm not sure why we've seen this apparent increase," Zuo said in a summary of the study. "But it could be related to the economic downturn, with stressed people turning to cocaine."
The latest experiments, described by the researchers as "the largest, most comprehensive analysis to date of cocaine contamination in banknotes," involved screening of paper currency from the U.S. and — for the first time — four other countries: Canada, Brazil, China and Japan.
Of the 27 Canadian banknotes examined, 23 tested positive for cocaine, ranging from minute amounts to one bill containing more than 2,500 micrograms of the drug — proof that the money was "used in a drug transaction or uptake" by a user, Zuo told Canwest News Service.
While acknowledging that "the sample size is small" and allowed only "preliminary" conclusions, Zuo said that the "analytical technique used for the examination is sound and accurate."
He added that most of the banknotes in Canada and the U.S. — where the cocaine was found on 90 per cent of all specimens — "were contaminated by contacting contaminated banknotes or other objects, such as currency counting machines.
"Although most of the U.S. and Canadian banknotes were contaminated with cocaine," Zuo said in an e-mail message, "the amounts are usually very low — (except for) those directly involved in a drug deal or abuse. People should not have any health concerns about handling paper money."
But the researchers did sound a note of alarm about the possible implications of the rising level of contamination, much higher than a 2007 study in the U.S. that showed about 70 per cent of the notes had come into contact with cocaine.
The researchers found cocaine contamination in 80 per cent of Brazilian currency, 20 per cent of the banknotes from China and just 12 per cent of those from Japan.
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