To the Dutch versionCocaine in your fingerprint
Within a few minutes, determine whether someone has used cocaine, making drug tests much more efficient.
The evidence that you can deduce whether someone has used cocaine from a fingerprint was already published by Catia Costa and Melanie Bailey of the University of Surrey in 2015. They found traces of benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine in a fingerprint. These substances are formed as our body breaks down cocaine. Also useful: if you only touch the drugs, the breakdown products are not on your finger.
Breakdown Products
For the new method, the researchers use a technique called paper spray mass spectrometry. It works as follows: suspects place their fingerprint on a special piece of paper. Subsequently, the researchers moisten the paper and let a small current run through it. This indicates whether the fingerprint contains cocaine breakdown products or not.
Just a Few Minutes
For this new version, the researchers used a handy mass spectrometer that detects the breakdown substances within a few minutes. The device is fast but not cheap: "Normally, these devices cost eighty thousand dollars," says De Puit. "But we built it ourselves for a few tens of dollars." The university's technicians used less sensitive - and therefore cheaper - components for this and also limited the possibilities.