Forensic Science International
Volume 214, Issue 1 , Pages 7-12 , 10 January 2012

14C analyses quantify time lag between coca leaf harvest and street-level seizure of cocaine

  • James R. Ehleringer

      Affiliations

    • Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States
    • IsoForensics, Inc., P.O. Box 581260, Salt Lake City, UT 84158, United States
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author at: Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States. Tel.: +1 801 581 7623; fax: +1 801 581 4665.
    • ,
  • John F. Casale

      Affiliations

    • Special Testing and Research Laboratory, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, 22624 Dulles Court, Dulles, VA 20166, United States
    • ,
  • Janet E. Barnette

      Affiliations

    • Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States
    • IsoForensics, Inc., P.O. Box 581260, Salt Lake City, UT 84158, United States
    • ,
  • Xiaomei Xu

      Affiliations

    • Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, United States
    • ,
  • Michael J. Lott

      Affiliations

    • Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States
    • IsoForensics, Inc., P.O. Box 581260, Salt Lake City, UT 84158, United States
    • ,
  • Janet Hurley

      Affiliations

    • Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, United States

Received 3 January 2011 ,Revised 28 April 2011 ,Accepted 1 May 2011.

References 

  1. US Department of Justice, 2009 Successes in the Fight Against Drugs, Stats & Facts, cited September 1, 2010. Available from: <http://www.justice.gov/dea/statistics.html#seizures>.
  2. Ehleringer JR, Casale JF, Lott MJ, Ford VL. Tracing the geographical origin of cocaine. Nature. 2000;408:311–312
  3. Moore JM, Casale JF. In-depth chromatographic analyses of illicit cocaine and its precursor, coca leaves. J. Chromatogr. A. 2001;674:165–205
  4. Casale JF, Ehleringer JR, Morello DR, Lott MJ. Isotopic fractionation of carbon and nitrogen during the illicit processing of cocaine and heroin in South America. J. Forensic Sci. 2005;50:1315–1321
  5. Casale JF, Waggoner RW. Chromatographic impurity signature profile analysis for cocaine using capillary gas chromatography. J. Forensic Sci. 1991;36:1312–1330
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  11. Alkass K, Bucholz BA, Ohtan S, Yamanoto T, Druid H, Spalding KL. Age estimation in forensic sciences: application of combined aspartic acid racemization and radiocarbon analysis. Mol. Cell. Proteomics. 2010;9:1022–1030
  12. Spalding KL, Buchholz BA, Bergman LE, Druid H, Frisen J. Age written in teeth by nuclear tests. Nature. 2005;437:333–334
  13. Ubelaker DH. Artifical radiocarbon as an indicator of recent origin of organic remains in forensic cases. J. Forensic Sci. 2001;46:1285–1287
  14. D.H. Ubelaker, B.A. Buchholz, Complexities in the use of bomb-curve radiocarbon to determine time since death of human skeletal remains, Forensic Science Communications 2006, cited September 1, 2010. Available from: <http://www2.fbi.gov/hq/lab/fsc/backissu/jan2006/research/2006_01_research01.htm>.
  15. Ubelaker DH, Buchholz BA, Stewart JEB. Analysis of artificial radiocarbon in different skeletal and dental tissue types to evaluate date of death. J. Forensic Sci. 2006;51:484–488
  16. Zoppi U, Skopec Z, Skopec J, Jones G, Fink D, Hua Q, et al. Forensic applications of C-14 bomb-pulse dating. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B. 2004;223:770–775
  17. Wild EM, Arlamovsky KA, Golser R, Kutschera W, Priller A, Puchegger S, et al. 14C dating with the bomb peak: an application to forensic medicine. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B. 2000;172:944–950
  18. Geyh MA. Bomb radiocarbon dating of animal tissues and hair. Radiocarbon. 2001;43:723–730
  19. Xu X, Trumbore SE, Zheng S, Southon JR, McDuffee KE, Luttgen M, et al. Modifying a sealed tube zinc reduction method for preparation of AMS graphite targets: reducing background and attaining high precision. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B. 2007;259:320–329
  20. Ehleringer JR, Casale JF, Barnette JE, Xu X, Lott MJ, Hurley J. 14C calibration curves for modern plant material from tropical regions of South America. Radiocarbon. 2011;53:

PII: S0379-0738(11)00218-0

doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2011.05.003

Forensic Science International
Volume 214, Issue 1 , Pages 7-12 , 10 January 2012

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