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Chemical analysis puts a trace on coca plants' growing areas.(The Dallas Morning News)
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Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
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November 20, 2000
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Copyright informationCOPYRIGHT 2000 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cocaine traffickers may be selling one of their secrets on the street.
In the latest issue of the journal Nature, scientists say they have figured out how to trace cocaine to the region where the original coca plants were grown.
Researchers from the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and the Drug Enforcement Administration in McLean, Va., found they could trace 96 percent of cocaine samples to distinct regions of South America using two chemical measurements.
The scientists collected 200 sets of leaves from plants growing along the Andean Ridge in northwestern South America, the primary growing region for coca. Plant extracts were analyzed for the ratio of ...