scientist have devised a fresh means to check someone ’s fingerprint and tell within seconds whether they ’ve used cocain .
Led by the University of Surrey , the survey was publish inClinical Chemistry . It is the first large - scale study of cocaine users , and could lead to a breakthrough in how Class A substances are discover .
The enquiry , conducted in tandem with the Netherlands Forensic Institute , used something known as report nebuliser mass spectrometry . fingermark sample distribution were notice on chromatography newspaper , which can tell core , and then care for with chemical to convey out the definition of the fingermark and identify the individual .
When someone had taken cocain , the fingerprint retain some key chemical indicators , benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine , even after the participants had wash their hands .
In the study , 239 fingerprint sampling were used . Incredibly , the team had a 99 percent success rate in identifying cocaine use , with a 2.5 percentage false - positive rate . Obviously that ’s not perfect – but it ’s moderately darn impressive .
During the study , it took about four minutes per sample to determine out if the mortal had used cocaine or not . However , the squad say this could be abridge dramatically in the future to make the psychometric test warm and efficient .
“ This is a real breakthrough in our work to convey a real time , non - encroaching drug - testing method to the market that will leave a definitive upshot in a matter of minutes – we are already work on a 30 second method , ” Dr Melanie Bailey , one of the study ’s co - authors , say in astatement .
The test is seen as being particularly good because it is hygienical , non - invasive , and it can not be faked . The technology in the study could be used by police force within a decade .
harmonise to theNational Statistics Office , about 2.7 million hoi polloi aged 16 to 59 ( one in 12 adults ) took illicit drugs in 2015 and 2016 in England and Wales . More than 8,500 people ( England ) were admitted to the hospital with drug - related mental wellness and behavioral disorders , and there were 2,500 deaths ( England and Wales ) from drug misuse in 2015 .
