Impotence blamed on €10 notes

GERMANY: A Berlin man claims that handling €10 banknotes has made him impotent

GERMANY: A Berlin man claims that handling €10 banknotes has made him impotent.Mr Wolfang Fritz (55) spent hours last January counting money his girlfriend inherited after the couple withdrew it all in €10 notes.

Mr Fritz says he hasn't had an erection since handling the money. He is demanding the German government supply him with the erectile disfunction-drug, Viagra.

"The euro notes made me sick. It just won't go up anymore," he told Berlin tabloid BZ. Mr Fritz has engaged a lawyer to fight his case, blaming the impotence on the chemical Tributyl-Zinn found in the €10 notes.

Each note contains 740 microgrammes of the chemical which, in sufficient quantity, can affect the human hormone system.

"The amount in euro notes cannot lead to acute hormonal disturbances," said hormone specialist Prof Dietrich Klingmüller.

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Derek Scally

Derek Scally

Derek Scally is an Irish Times journalist based in Berlin