Saturday, August 09, 2008

Fingerprints can now be used to detect drug use and disease

"Fingerprints could be used to detect traces of drugs or explosives in one of the most significant improvements in the technology for years.

Police now have the ability to analyse the traces of cannabis, cocaine and other drugs, or explosives, in a fingerprint itself.

The new technique reveals, in extraordinary detail, the chemical compounds that make up the print and could also find medical uses, since tiny traces of chemicals at our fingertips could signal the presence of a disease or an illness."

"Researchers can detect minute traces of compounds - marked as dots on the print - that were on the fingertips of the person who left the print."

Source: Telegraph