Your Fingerprints Can Tell About Cocaine Intake

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Scientists in the UK and the Netherlands have revealed a rapid, single-fingerprint test for cocaine use. The procedure is less invasive, more hygienic and faster than established approaches, which typically test blood, urine or saliva. Portable versions could be available to law enforcement agencies within the next decade.
Have you recently taken an illicit drug? You have the right to remain silent, but if authorities really need an answer, there’s a global testing industry worth several billion dollars on hand to help, with an array of analytical techniques. Potentially adding to this arsenal, a team of scientists led by Melanie Bailey at the University of Surrey have now demonstrated a formidable test for cocaine – don’t sweat, it only needs one fingerprint. 
The test – brainchild of Marcel de Puit at the Netherlands Forensic Institute – is based on surface mass spectrometry. It desorbs molecules from fingerprints and detects not only cocaine but also its two metabolites, benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine, showing that the drug has been ingested, rather than only touched.
Source- Forensic Megazine

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