Experimental fingerprint test can distinguish between those who have taken or handled cocaine

Science Daily  February 6, 2020
An international team of researchers (UK, Ireland) has designed a test that can tell whether an individual has consumed the class A drug, or simply handled it. They took fingerprints from people who had testified to ingesting cocaine during the previous 24 hours. Fingerprints were collected again after the participants washed their hands thoroughly with soap and water. This same process was used to collect samples from a pool of non- drug users who had touched street cocaine. By cross-referencing the information from the non-users who had touched cocaine with that of volunteers who testified ingesting it, they found that benzoylecgonine that is produced in the body when cocaine is ingested is essential in distinguishing those who have consumed the class A drug from those who have handled it. Benzoylecgonine was not present in samples from the non-users, even after touching street cocaine and then washing their hands. In addition to illicit drugs, the test can detect pharmaceutical drugs in fingerprints…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE

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