Dirty Money
Posted: August 19th, 2009 | Author: Chris Jirau | Filed under: Current Events | Tags: American Chemical Society, cocaine, Dartmouth University, Yuegang Zuo | No Comments »
The American Chemical Society (ACS), a nonprofit scientific society, concluded on Sunday that up to 90 percent of United States paper money contains traces of cocaine.
30 cities in five countries participated in the study, with scientist testing banknotes from the U.S., Canada, Brazil, China and Japan.
Bills become contaminated either through drug deals or drug using, such as snorting cocaine through rolled bills. As money is run through currency counting machines, the cocaine residue is spread.
According to study, the U.S. and Canada had the highest contamination rate of between 85 and 90 percent, while China and Japan ranked amongst the lowest with a rate between 12 and 20 percent. In the U.S., Salt Lake City had the lowest average.
Yuegang Zuo, lead scientist and professor at the University of Dartmouth, says the findings represent a 20% jump over a similar study two years ago.
