Interesting idea, but I think cash is so retro. I got $150 in cash from my bank about 18 months ago (yes, I checked). I still have most of it. I use my credit card for almost all fact-to-face payments. Next year there will be an increase in near-field connections such as RFID and cell-phone payments. Anybody that wants to avoid germ-laden cash can do it now.

The techno-thriller idea sounds good. Back in the last century there was a successful book that used LSD on stamps. That was back when people licked stamps.

People worried about germs on their money can remedy the situation by baking the bills at 475 degrees for 30 minutes or until the smoke detector goes off, whichever comes first.Heh,heh,heh. . .

Quite seriously tho', wouldn't the infusion of large amounts of antibiotic substances in the enviroment lead to the creation of more "super germs"?

The antibiotics would probably be useless, since most/all antibiotics only work if the bacteria are growing and most pathogens are not growing on money--they are just sitting there.

If money is an important vector for pathogens (I doubt that it is) and this additive really did kill these pathogens, then within a decade or two we would expect to see the pathogens develop a resistance to this antibiotic. The money would no longer be anti-biotic, and we would no longer be able to use this antibiotic for more specific jobs.

Broad use of antibiotics tends to be self-defeating--they should be saved for focused deployment (for babies, the sick, and the elderly).

IMO we need programs for more effective money laundering...