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Tabloid News of Saturday, 2 March 2002

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Ten-euro note can make one impotent

A German man claims euro notes are making him impotent.

Wolfgang Fritz says he is planning to sue the government after he alleges handling his country's new ten-euro note caused the problem.

The European Central Bank is now said to be carrying out new safety tests on the notes.

"I'm dead in the bedroom," 55-year-old Mr Fritz told the Daily Mail.

"I haven't had a spark down there since I started using the notes. I'm ok with other denominations, it's just the ten-euro. It started with headaches and just got worse. It would be funny if it were not so pathetic."

His lawyer Hanns-Ekkehard Ploeger is planning a lawsuit against the government, acting for Mr Fritz and others who have been made sick through this currency.

Thousands of people in Germany are claiming they have been struck by allergies and ailments after handling the note.

Sufferers blame the chemical tributyltin which is only used in the ten-euro note.

The Government initially called the claims about ailments as "spurious", but it now says: "If test prove these notes are unsafe, they must be withdrawn."