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The controversy centres on the fact that amalgams contain mercury. In high enough concentrations, mercury is toxic.Some make the point that amalgams make people sick from allergies to neurotoxicity to a whole host of other systemic alimentsThere has been a great deal of bunk science done on amalgam.I will simply post some key concensus documents which also reference reputable science with respect to the use of dental amalgam.the overall consensus is that amalgam has been used for more than 200 years and except for a small number of patients who might have sensitivities to it, it is safe.Another key point made across the documents is that wholsesale removal of amalgam filling from patient is not indicated.Statement on Dental AmalgamStatement on Dental AmalgamFor dental patients: Please visit the ADA’s MouthHealthy website for information about amalgam and silver-colored fillings.Dental amalgam is considered a safe, affordable and durable material that has been used to restore the teeth of more than 100 million Americans. It contains a mixture of metals such as silver, copper and tin, in addition to mercury, which binds these components into a hard, stable and safe substance. Dental amalgam has been studied and reviewed extensively, and has established a record of safety and effectiveness.The FDI World Dental Federation and the World Health Organization concluded in a 1997 consensus statementi: “No controlled studies have been published demonstrating systemic adverse effects from amalgam restorations.” Another conclusion of the report stated that, aside from rare instances of local side effects of allergic reactions, “the small amount of mercury released from amalgam restorations, especially during placement and removal, has not been shown to cause any … adverse health effects.”In 1998, the ADA’s Council on Scientific Affairsii published its first major review of the scientific literature on dental amalgam which concluded that “based on available scientific information, amalgam continues to be a safe and effective restorative material.” The Council’s report also stated, “There currently appears to be no justification for discontinuing the use of dental amalgam.”In an articleiii published in the February 1999 issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association, researchers report finding “no significant association of Alzheimer’s Disease with the number, surface area or history of having dental amalgam restorations” and “no statistically significant differences in brain mercury levels between subjects with Alzheimer’s Disease and control subjects.”A 2003 paper published in the New England Journal of Medicineiv states, “Patients who have questions about the potential relation between mercury and degenerative diseases can be assured that the available evidence shows no connection.”In 2004, an expert panel reviewed the peer-reviewed, scientific literature published from 1996 to December 2003 on potential adverse human health effects caused by dental amalgam and published a report. The review was conducted by the Life Sciences Research Office (LSRO) and funded by the National Institutes of Dental and Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Devices and Radiological Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The resulting report states that, “The current data are insufficient to support an association between mercury release from dental amalgam and the various complaints that have been attributed to this restoration material. These complaints are broad and nonspecific compared to the well-defined set of effects that have been documented for occupational and accidental elemental mercury exposures. Individuals with dental amalgam-attributed complaints had neither elevated urinary mercury nor increased prevalence of hypersensitivity to dental amalgam or mercury when compared with controls.” The full report is available from LSRO (The Life Sciences Research Office (LSRO)). A summary of the review is published in Toxicological Reviews.vIn 2006, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and Environmental Health Perspectives published the results of two independent clinical trials designed to examine the effects of mercury release from amalgam on the central and peripheral nervous systems and kidney function. The authors concluded that “there were no statistically significant differences in adverse neuropsychological or renal effects observed over the 5-year period in children whose caries are restored using dental amalgam or composite materials”;vi,vii and “children who received dental restorative treatment with amalgam did not, on average, have statistically significant differences in neurobehavioral assessments or in nerve conduction velocity when compared with children who received resin composite materials without amalgam. These findings, combined with the trend of higher treatment need later among those receiving composite, suggest that amalgam should remain a viable dental restorative option for children.”viiiIn May 2008, a Scientific Committee of the European Commission addressed safety concerns for patients, professionals and the use of alternative restorative materials.ix The committee concluded that dental amalgams are effective and safe, both for patients and dental personnel and also noted that alternative materials are not without clinical limitations and toxicological hazards.The ADA Council on Scientific Affairs prepared a comprehensive literature review (PDF) on amalgam safety that summarized the state of the evidence for amalgam safety (from January 2004 to June 2010). Based on the results of this review, the Council reaffirmed at its July 2009 meeting that the scientific evidence supports the position that amalgam is a valuable, viable and safe choice for dental patients.On July 28, 2009, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its final rule on encapsulated dental amalgam classifying amalgam and its component parts, elemental mercury and powder alloy, as a class II medical device. Previously there was no classification for encapsulated amalgam, and dental mercury (class I) and alloy (class II) were classified separately. This new regulation places encapsulated amalgam in the same class of devices as most other restorative materials, including composite and gold fillings. At the same time, the FDA also reaffirmed the agency’s position that the material is a safe and effective restorative option for patients.The CSA supports ongoing research on the safety of existing dental materials and in the development of new materials, and continues to believe that amalgam is a valuable, viable and safe choice for dental patients.Referencesi. FDI Policy Statement/WHO Consensus Statement on Dental Amalgam. September 1997. Accessed October 9, 2013.ii. ADA Council on Scientific Affairs. Dental Amalgam: Update on Safety Concerns. J Am Dent Assoc. 1998;129:494-503. Accessed October 9, 2013.iii. Saxe SR, Wekstein MW, Kryscio RJ, et al. Alzheimer’s disease, dental amalgam and mercury. J Am Dent Assoc. 1999;130(2):191-9. Accessed October 9, 2013. (Abstract)iv. Clarkson TW, Magos L, Myers GJ. The toxicology of mercury – Current exposures and clinical manifestations. N Engl J Med. 2003;349:1731-7.v. Brownawell AM, Berent S, Brent RL, et al. The potential adverse health effects of dental amalgam. Toxicol Rev 2005;24(1):1-10. Accessed October 9, 2013. (Abstract)vi. Bellinger DC, Trachtenberg F, Barregard L, et al. Neuropsychological and renal effects of dental amalgam in children: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA 2006;295(15):1775-83. Accessed October 9, 2013. (Abstract)vii. Bellinger DC, Daniel D, Trachtenberg F, Tavares M, McKinlay S. Dental amalgam restorations and children’s neuropsychological function: the New England Children’s Amalgam Trial. Environ Health Perspect 2007;115(3):443-6. Accessed October 9, 2013.viii. DeRouen TA, Martin MD, Leroux BG, et al. Neurobehavioral effects of dental amalgam in children: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA 2006;295(15):1784-92. Accessed October 9, 2013.ix. European Commission: Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks. The Safety of Dental Amalgam and Alternative Dental Restoration Materials for Patients and Users May 6, 2008. Accessed October 9, 2013.Another link from the Government of Canada which looks at amalgam safety and delves into amalgam policies from other countries:The Safety of Dental AmalgamStatement from the Canadian Dental Association on amalgam:https://www.cda-adc.ca/_files/position_statements/amalgam.pdfA paper on this controversy:The Dental Amalgam Toxicity Fear: A Myth or ActualityToxicology InternationalMedknow PublicationsThe Dental Amalgam Toxicity Fear: A Myth or ActualityMonika Rathore, Archana Singh, and Vandana A. PantAdditional article informationAbstractAmalgam has been used in dentistry since about 150 years and is still being used due to its low cost, ease of application, strength, durability, and bacteriostatic effect. When aesthetics is not a concern it can be used in individuals of all ages, in stress bearing areas, foundation for cast-metal and ceramic restorations and poor oral hygiene conditions. Besides all, it has other advantages like if placed under ideal conditions, it is more durable and long lasting and least technique sensitive of all restorative materials, but, concern has been raised that amalgam causes mercury toxicity. Mercury is found in the earth's crust and is ubiquitous in the environment, so even without amalgam restorations everyone is exposed to small but measurable amount of mercury in blood and urine. Dental amalgam restorations may raise these levels slightly, but this has no practical or clinical significance. The main exposure to mercury from dental amalgam occurs during placement or removal of restoration in the tooth. Once the reaction is complete less amount of mercury is released, and that is far below the current health standard. Though amalgam is capable of producing delayed hypersensitivity reactions in some individuals, if the recommended mercury hygiene procedures are followed the risks of adverse health effects could be minimized. For this review the electronic databases and PubMed were used as data sources and have been evaluated to produce the facts regarding amalgam's safety and toxicity.Keywords: Amalgam, mercury, myth, restoration, safety, tooth, toxicityINTRODUCTIONAmalgam, an alloy of mercury (Hg), is an excellent and versatile dental restorative material. It has been used in dentistry since 150 years due to its low cost, ease of application, strength, durability, and bacteriostatic effects.[1] Popularity of amalgam as restorative material is decreasing these days due to concerns about detrimental health effects, environmental pollution, and aesthetics.[2] The metallic colour of amalgam does not blend with the natural tooth colour so patients and professionals preferred tooth-coloured restorative material for cavity filling in carious teeth for better aesthetics. Researchers agree that amalgam restorations leach mercury into the mouth, but consistent findings are not available to report whether it has any significant health risk.[3] In this review, an attempt has been made to summarize that there is no convincing evidences pointed out to adverse health effects due to dental amalgam restorations and can be used as a preferred restorative material where aesthetics is not a concern.Amalgam composition and historical backgroundAmalgam consists of an alloy of silver, copper, tin, and zinc combined with mercury. Unreacted alloy particles of silver-tin are considered as gamma phase. These particles combine with mercury and form a matrix consisting of gamma-1(Ag2Hg3) and gamma-2 phases. (Sn7-8Hg). The gamma-2 phase is responsible for early fracture and failure of amalgam restorations. Hence, copper was introduced to avoid gamma-2 phase, replacing the tin-mercury phase with a copper-tin phase (Cu5Sn5).[4] Louis Regnart, known as the ‘Father of Amalgam’, improved on boiled mineral cement by adding mercury, which greatly reduced the high temperature originally needed to pour the cement on to a tooth. In 1890s GV Black gave a formula for dental amalgam that provided clinically acceptable performance and remained unchanged virtually for 70 years. In 1959, Dr Wilmer Eames[5] promoted low mercury-to-alloy mixing ratio. The mercury-to-amalgam ratio, dropped from 8:5 to 1:1. The formula was again changed in 1963, when amalgam consisting of a high-copper dispersion alloy was introduced.[6] It was later discovered that the improved strength of the amalgam was a result of the additional copper forming a copper–tin phase that was less susceptible to corrosion than the tin–mercury phase in the earlier amalgam.[7]Modern amalgams are produced from precapsulated (preproportioned) alloy consisting of 42% to 45% mercury by weight. These are convenient to use and provide some degree of assurance that the material has not been not contaminated before use or spilled before mixing.[8]Amalgam controversy and amalgam warIn the year 1843, the American Society of Dental Surgeons (ASDS), founded in New York City, declared use of amalgam to be malpractice because of the fear of mercury poisoning in patients and dentists and forced all its members to sign a pledge to abstain from using it.[9] It was the beginning of the amalgam war.[10] Because of its stance against amalgam, membership in the American Society of Dental Surgeons declined, and due to the loss of members, the organization was disbanded in 1856 thus resulting in the end of the amalgam war. In 1859, the American Dental Association (ADA) was founded and it did not forbid use of amalgam.[11] The ADA position on the safety of amalgam has remained consistent since its foundation. In 1920s inferences were made that mercury was not tightly bound in amalgam so its use was discouraged. In 1991, National Institute of Health-National Institute for Dental Research (NIH-NIDR) and FDA concluded that there was no basis for claims that amalgam was a significant health hazard,[12] but claims of amalgam hazards continued to be published in non-scientific journals, and occasionally in scientific journals.Mercury exposure from amalgam restorationsMercury is ubiquitous in environment and humans are routinely exposed via air, water, and food.[8] Exposure to mercury in human individuals with amalgam restoration occurs during the placement or removal of dental restorations. Once the reaction is complete, less amount of mercury is released, that is far below the current health standard.[8] The exposure to mercury from restoration depends on the number and size of restoration, composition, chewing habits, food texture, grinding, brushing of teeth, and many other physiological factors. As a vapour, metallic mercury could be inhaled and absorbed through the alveoli in the lungs at 80% efficiency. It is the main route of entry of mercury into the human body, whereas the absorption of metallic mercury through skin or via the gastrointestinal tract is very poor.[8] The organic compounds of mercury such as methyl mercury are readily absorbed by many organisms and accumulate as it passes into food chain. Research on monkeys had shown that mercury released from amalgam restorations is absorbed and accumulated in various organs such as kidney, brain, lung, liver, gastro-intestinal tract, and the exocrine glands.[13] The organic form of mercury was also found to have crossed the placental barrier in pregnant rats[14] and proven to cross the gastrointestinal mucosa when amalgam particles are swallowed at the time of amalgam insertion or during removal of old amalgam fillings,[15] whereas the inorganic form of Mercury ions (Hg+2) circulate into the blood stream but hardly cross the blood–brain barrier and placental barrier.Mercury does not collect irreversibly in human tissues. The average half life of mercury is 55 days for transport through the body to the point of excretion. Thus mercury that came into the body years ago may no longer be present in the body.[8]Diagnostic methods to detect levels of mercury in bodyToxicity from mercury could occur through exposure to organic, inorganic, and elemental forms of mercury. According to decreasing toxicity of mercury it is classified as organomercury (methyl and ethyl mercury), mercury vapour, and inorganic mercury. Various diagnostic methods exist to detect the level of mercury in body, including tests for blood, urine, stool, saliva, hair analysis, and others. These tests may determine if mercury is in the body and/or if it is being excreted. A study[16] conducted by measuring the intraoral vapour levels over a 24-h period in patients with at least nine amalgam restorations showed that the average daily dose of inhaled mercury vapour was 1.7 μg (range from 0.4 to 4.4 μg), which is approximately 1% of the threshold limit value of 300 to 500 μg/day established by WHO, based on a maximum allowable environmental level of 50 μg/day in the workplace. According to Berdouses et al.[17] mercury exposure from amalgam can be greatly increased by personal habits such as, chewing and brushing.Berglund,[18] in 1993, determined the daily release of mercury vapour from amalgam restorations made of alloys of the same types and batches as those used in the in vitro part of the study. He carried out a series of measurements on each of eight subjects before and after amalgam therapy and found that none of the subjects were occupationally exposed to mercury. The amalgam therapy, that is, from 3 to 6 occlusal amalgam surfaces and from 3 to 10 surfaces in total-had very little influence on the intraoral release of mercury vapour, regardless of amalgam type used, effects was not found on mercury levels in urine and saliva. Rapid and reliable detection of mercury in blood and urine resulting from environmental and occupational exposure may be carried out by using atomic fluorescence spectrophotometry.[19] Measurements of total mercury in the urine tend to reflect inorganic mercury exposure and total mercury levels in whole blood are more indicative of methyl mercury exposure. Commonly two types of urine tests have been used in which one is the unprovoked mercury test that does not use a pharmaceutical mercury chelator and only reflects the amount of mercury the body naturally removes via the urine. The other is the urine mercury challenge (provoked) test, which uses a pharmaceutical chelator to remove the mercury captured via the kidneys/urine pathway. Both methylmercury and inorganic mercury can also be measured in breast milk. The relative proportions of these species depend on the frequency of fish consumption, dental amalgam status, and occupational exposures. In a study for comparison of hair, nails, and urine for biological monitoring of low level inorganic mercury exposure in dental workers, the data suggested that urine mercury remains the most practical and sensitive means of monitoring low level occupational exposure to inorganic mercury.[20]Various related studiesIn this review electronic databases and PubMed have been used for data sources and articles from peer reviewed journals and various organizations including WHO (1991), the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) (1999), US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA,1997), the National Research Council (NRC) (2000), the Institute of Medicine (2001; 2004) and Life Science Research Office (LSRO) (2004) have been evaluated to investigate the biochemical, behavioural, and/or toxicological effects resulting from exposure to amalgam, mercury vapour (HgO), inorganic mercury (Hg2+), or organic mercury (methyl and ethyl mercury). The LSRO search was limited to in vivo studies on humans relevant to amalgam and biochemical, behavioural and/or toxicological effects as health effects in laboratory animals do not reliably predict health effects in humans.Effects of prenatal mercury exposureNonionized mercury is capable of crossing through lipid layers at membrane barriers of the brain and placenta, is oxidised within these tissues and is slowly removed. This fact has become the basis for claims of neuromuscular problems in patients with amalgam restorations.[8] Removing these restorations do not eliminate exposure to mercury. Maternal amalgam restoration results in in utero exposure to low levels of elemental mercury. There is no evidence that exposure to mercury has been associated with any adverse pregnancy outcomes or health effects in the newborn and infants. In a prospective study consisting of 72 pregnant women, it was found that the number and surface areas of amalgam restorations positively influenced the concentration of mercury in amniotic fluid. The levels of mercury detected in amniotic fluid were low and no adverse outcomes were observed during the pregnancy or in the newborns.[21] Blood samples obtained from umbilical cord had no significant mercury levels considered to be hazardous for neurodevelopmental effects in children using the EPA reference dose (5.8 μg/L in cord blood).[22] To find co-relation between mercury exposure from amalgam restorations placed during pregnancy and low-birth weight 1,117 women with low birth weight infants were compared with random sample of 4,468 women who gave birth to infants with normal birth weight. Women (4.9%) had at least one amalgam restoration placed during pregnancy. These women were not at greater risk for a low birth weight infant and neither were women who had 4 to 11 amalgam restorations placed.[23] In a study conducted by Daniels[24] 90% of the women received dental care during pregnancy. Having more restorations placed at time of conception did not negatively affect pregnancy or birth outcome. Mean umbilical cord mercury concentration was slightly higher in women who had dental care. However, cord mercury concentrations did not differ significantly among mothers in relation to amalgam restoration during pregnancy or by the number of amalgams in place prior to pregnancy. Overall, amalgam restorations were not associated with negative birth outcomes or delayed language development. They stated that amalgam restorations in girls and women of reproductive age should be used with caution to avoid prenatal mercury exposure, although there were no adverse effects seen.Health effects of amalgam in childrenThe Children's Amalgam Trial is a randomized trial, to address potential impact of mercury from amalgam restorations on neuropsychological and renal function in children. Bellinger et al.[25] conducted a study on 534 New England children, aged 6–10 years for 5 years. All subjects were in need of at least two posterior occlusal restorations. Participants were randomized to receive either amalgam or composite restoration at baseline and at subsequent visits. The primary endpoint was to assess the 5-year change in IQ scores. Secondary endpoints included measures of other neuropsychological assessments and renal functioning. In the 5-year follow-up period the investigators conducted multiple assessments of IQ score, memory index, and urinary albumin. No statistically significant differences were reported in neuropsychological or renal effects observed in the children who had amalgam restorations compared to those with composite restorations.In another study, authors have concluded that there was no difference in the neuropsychological function of the children who received amalgam restorations compared to the children with composite restorations.[26] A dose-effect analysis of children's exposure to amalgam and neuropsychological function was also evaluated in the children's amalgam trial. The authors examined a sample of children with substantial unmet dental needs using a dose–effect analysis. There was no significant association between neuropsychological outcomes and mercury exposure. The authors concluded that there appeared to be no detectable adverse neuropsychological outcomes in children attributable to the use of amalgam restorations.[27] The relation between amalgam and the psychosocial status of children was also assessed as a part of the New England Children's Amalgam Trial (NECAT). The two groups of children were examined for psychosocial outcomes. It was carried out using both a parent-completed “Child Behaviour Checklist” and children's self-reports and concluded that there was no evidence associated with adverse psychosocial outcomes in the 5-year period following amalgam placement.[28]Kingman et al.[29] studied correlation between exposure to amalgam and neurological functions. No significant associations between amalgam exposure and clinical neurological signs of abnormal tremor, coordination, gait, strength, sensation or muscle stretch reflexes or for any level of peripheral neuropathy in the subjects have been observed. A significant association was detected between amalgam exposure and the continuous vibro-tactile sensation response. The study reported that this association was a subclinical finding that was not associated with symptoms, clinically evident signs of neuropathy or any functional impairment.In the Children's Amalgam Trial, one of the secondary endpoints included renal functioning. The investigators assessed changes on markers of glomerular and tubular kidney function and urinary mercury levels. They found no significant differences between the treatment groups and no significant effects related to the number of dental amalgam restorations on the markers. Children in both treatment groups experienced micro albuminuria, but the prevalence was higher in amalgam group. The authors concluded that the increase in micro albuminuria may be random, but should be further evaluated.[30] The other safety trial was conducted in Lisbon, Portugal[27] in which a randomized controlled clinical trial carried out in 507 children 8- to 10-years old at baseline. They were evaluated for several years thereafter to determine if any health changes occurred following restorations with amalgam or composites. On carrying out annual standardized tests of memory, attention, physical coordination, and velocity of nerve conduction, the scientists did not detect a pattern of decline in the test scores of individual children who received amalgam restorations. They found a trend of higher treatment need in children receiving composite, thus suggesting that amalgam should remain a viable dental restorative option for children. The investigators performed annual clinical neurological examinations to assess neurobehavioral and neurological effects. The authors concluded that amalgam exposure had no adverse neurological outcomes.[31]The 7 years of longitudinal data provide extensive evidence about relative safety of amalgam in dental treatment. Substantial amalgam exposure did lead to creatinine adjusted urinary mercury levels that were higher in the amalgam group. Children with amalgam restorations had slightly elevated levels of mercury in their urine, measuring on average 1.5 μg/L of urine for the first two years and levelling off to 1.0 μg/L or less thereafter. However, these values fall within the background level of 0–4 μg/L, which is usual for an average person not exposed to industrial or other known sources of mercury.[32] Thus, the longitudinal studies on the use of amalgam in children did not suggest any negative effects on neuropsychological function or renal function within the 5-year follow-up period. It was reported that urinary mercury concentrations were highly correlated with both the number of amalgam restorations and the time since placement in children. The finding suggested that there may be sex-related differences in mercury excretion. They found that females have significant increase in the rate of mercury excreted in urine than males. Thus, this association might confer a lower mercury toxicity risks in females.[33] Dunn et al.[34] evaluated scalp, hair, and urine mercury content of children collected over the 5-year period, mean hair mercury level was 0.3–0.4 μg/g and mean urinary mercury level was 0.7–0.9 μg/g creatinine. The authors reported that use of chewing gum in the presence of amalgam restoration was a predictor of higher urinary mercury levels. Data suggested that amalgam-associated mercury exposure might be reduced by avoidance of gum-chewing in the presence of amalgam restorations.Sixty children were studied to assess urinary mercury excretion and its relation to amalgam restoration and fish consumption. Children with amalgam restorations had significantly higher urinary mercury levels compared to children with non-amalgam restorations. The urinary mercury levels in the amalgam group were well below levels that are known to cause adverse health effects.[35]Health effects related to mercury exposure in adultsAn investigation on 20,000 people in the New Zealand Defence Force between years 1977–1997 was done to find out association between amalgam restorations and disorders related with nervous system and kidney. No significant correlation between amalgam restorations and chronic fatigue syndrome or kidney disease was observed. A slightly elevated risk for multiple sclerosis was reported, but may have been due to confounding variables.[36] In another study, where few patients believed that their amalgam restoration made them ill, medical examination including physical examination, electrocardiogram, abdominal sonography, and blood chemistry was done. The study concluded that symptoms of the patients were due to psychological factors. There was no connection between the mercury levels in the patient's blood, urine, and saliva and their symptoms.[37] The association between amalgam and multiple sclerosis was assessed via a systematic review and meta-analysis. Three case control studies and one cohort study met their inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis revealed a slight nonstatistically significant increase between the presence of amalgam restorations and multiple sclerosis. The study does not provide evidence for or against an association.[38]Halbach et al.[39] evaluated the internal exposure to amalgam-related mercury and estimated the amalgam-related absorbed dose of mercury. The integrated mercury absorbed from amalgam restorations was estimated at up to 3 μg per day for an average number of restorations and 7.4 μg per day for a high amalgam load. The authors concluded that these estimates are below the tolerable dose of 30 μg per day established by WHO.Hypersensitivity reactions by amalgam restorationsAmalgam is capable of producing delayed hypersensitivity reactions in some individuals. These reactions usually present with dermatological or oral symptoms. The constant exposure to mercury in amalgam restorations may sensitize some individuals, making them more susceptible to oral lichenoid lesions. These oral lesions are rarely noticed by the affected individuals and cause no discomfort. There is evidence that a certain percentage of lichenoid lesions are caused by amalgam restorations,[40] but other restorative materials can also cause lichenoid lesions. It was also noted that the restorations associated with lichenoid lesions are poorly contoured, corroded and old. Hence corrosion of amalgam restoration or perhaps the biofilm present on such restorations may contribute to the development of hypersensitive reaction rather than material itself.[41] Symptoms of an amalgam allergy include skin rashes in the oral, head and neck area, itching, swollen lips, localized eczema-like lesions in the oral cavity. These clinical signs usually require no treatment and will disappear on their own within a few days of exposure. However, in some instances, an amalgam restoration will have to be removed and replaced with alternate restorative material. The replacements have led to significant improvements.[42] Although mercury allergy is rare but sometimes hypersensitivity to it may lead to dermatitis or type IV delayed hypersensitivity reactions most often affecting the skin as a rash.[43]Mercury exposure in dental professionalsDentists and dental nurses are at risk of potential exposure to inorganic mercury through their handling of amalgam, although now days their exposure has reduced due to low mercury to alloy ratio and through mercury management. One hundred and eighty dentists were evaluated in West Scotland for mercury exposure and its effects on their health and cognitive function. Dentists were found to have, on an average, over four times the level of urinary mercury compared to age and education-matched control subjects. The authors reported that based on their questionnaire, dentists were more likely to report having a disorder of the kidney, although the effect was not significantly associated with their urinary mercury level. An age effect was found for memory disturbances in dentists but not in the control subjects. There was no significant association between urinary mercury concentrations and self-reported memory disturbance.[44] A study on 43 dental nurses, with an average age of 52, were exposed to copper amalgam with a 30-year follow-up; were compared with 32 matched controls. It was concluded that the dental nurses did not appear to be neurobehavioraly compromised. Seven symptoms of mercury poisoning that were reported at a higher rate by exposed group than by the control group (arthritis, bloating, dry skin, headache, metallic taste, sleep disturbances, and unsteadiness). It did not appear that the investigators performed post-hoc testing to compensate for multiple comparisons.[45] The possible health risk of occupational exposure to mercury vapour in the dental office was assessed by evaluating the cytogenetic examination of leukocytes and blood mercury levels of dentists.[46] Genotoxicity of occupational exposure to mercury vapour in ten dentists was evaluated. The authors concluded that mercury vapour concentration in blood was below 0.1 mg/m3 and did not exhibit cytogenetic damage to leukocytes.Mercury management in dental operatoryIn 1999, the ADA Council on Scientific Affairs adopted mercury hygiene recommendations to provide guidance to dentists and their staff members for safe handling of mercury and minimizing the release of mercury into the dental office environment. These were updated in 2003 and are as follows: work in well-ventilated areas, remove professional clothing before leaving the workplace, periodically check the dental operatory atmosphere for mercury vapour, (use dosimeter badges or use of mercury vapour analysers for rapid assessment after any mercury spill or clean-up procedure). The current Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), standard for mercury is 0.1 mg per cubic meter of air averaged over 8-h work shift. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has recommended the permissible exposure limit to be changed to 0.05 mg/m3 averaged over 8-h work shift over a 40-h workweek.[47] During preparation and placement of amalgam only precapsulated amalgam alloys should be used. If possible, recap single-use capsules after use, store them in a closed container and recycle them. Avoid skin contact with mercury or freshly mixed amalgam. Use high-volume evacuation systems when finishing or removing amalgam. Floor coverings should be non absorbent, seamless and easy to clean. Use of carpet in operatory is not recommended where an accidental mercury spill might occur. Chemical decontamination of carpeting may not be effective, as mercury droplets can seep through the carpet and remain inaccessible to the decontaminant. In case of accidental mercury spill a vacuum cleaner should never be used to clean up the mercury. Small spills (less than 10 g of mercury present) can be cleaned safely using commercially available mercury cleanup kits.Amalgam substitutesIn the recent year's composites, glass ionomer cements and a variety of hybrid structures have been used due to increased demand for aesthetic restorations. Composite serves better than amalgam when conservative preparation is recommended like small occlusal restorations, in which amalgam require removal of more sound tooth structure.[48] Composites have different setting reaction mechanisms and it interacts with the patient's tissues in different ways . The small organic molecules (monomers) react to form polymers. Some of the monomers may not have reacted during placement and therefore low levels remain in the set restoration, which are known to be toxic to cells and others may cause allergic reactions. The effects they cause vary depending on the substance and on the type of body tissue with which they come into contact. Concerns have been raised about the endocrine disrupting (in particular, oestrogen-mimicking) effects of plastic chemicals such as “Bisphenol A” used in composite resins.[49]Amalgam possesses greater longevity than composite.[50] However, this difference has decreased with continued development of composite resins.[51] Amalgam is moderately tolerant to the presence of moisture during placement. In contrast, technique for composite resin placement is more sensitive and require “extreme care” and “considerably greater number of steps”.[51] Mercury acts as bacteriostatic agent whereas TEGMA (constituting some older resin-based composites) “encourages the growth of microorganisms”.[51] The New England Children's Amalgam Trial suggested that the longevity of amalgam is higher than that of resin-based compomer placed in primary teeth and composites in permanent teeth.[50,52] Compomers and composites were seven times likely to require replacement than amalgam.[52] “Recurrent marginal decay” is the main reason for failure in both, amalgam and composite restorations, accounting for 66% (32/48) and 88% (113/129), respectively.[53] “Christensen[50] quoted Amalgam restorations are and will continue to be the mainstay of posterior tooth restorations for many years to come.” Though use of amalgam has decreased during the past few years, more studies on safety of composites or other aesthetic materials with long-term follow-up of are necessary before they can be considered a definitive alternative for amalgam.CONCLUSIONThe current use of amalgam has not posed a health risk apart from allergic reactions in few patients. Clinical justifications have not been available for removing clinically satisfactory amalgam restorations, except in patients allergic to amalgam constituents. Mercury hypersensitivity is an immune response to very low levels of mercury. There is no evidence that mercury released from amalgams results in adverse health effects in the general population. If the recommended mercury hygiene procedures are followed, the risks of adverse health effects in the dental office could be minimized. Amalgam is safe and effective restorative material and its replacement by nonamalgam restorations is not indicated. Also a recent review by the American Dental Association Council on Scientific Affairs states that: “Studies continue to support the position that dental amalgam is a safe restorative option for both children and adults. When responding to safety concerns it is important to make the distinction between known and hypothetical risks.”

Undercover secret service Agent characters and able to perform successfully, has to do mainly in his belives that his actions activities us based on morale justifiable reasons to undertake missions in order to protect life of his fellow citizens against evils.Related terms:Charles A. Sennewald, Curtis Baillie, in Effective Security Management (Sixth Edition), 2016ExampleConsider a case in which the Security department contracts for the placement of an undercover agent in a warehouse for the purpose of gathering information on possible internal theft. The undercover agent’s primary employer is a contract service firm. The agent receives a salary from them as well as a regular paycheck, like every other warehouse employee, from the company that owns the warehouse. For a period of time some useful intelligence is obtained, but after a while the undercover agent becomes personally involved with other warehouse employees and the reports become valueless. Even though the agent wishes to remain employed in the warehouse, services can be terminated forthwith without violating the agent’s rights to job security, because the real (and primary) employer is the firm that sent the agent to the warehouse and is still paying the undercover salary (although it may be less than the warehouse salary).If, on the other hand, the Security department hires an applicant directly into the warehouse to serve as an undercover agent, that person would be entitled to some job protection and could not be summarily removed from the job. The use of contractual services has some very definite advantages.ect Behind the Keyboard, 2013Undercover and Informant OperationsUndercover operations in cybercrime investigations obviously will include use of electronic communication. Undercover (UC) agents email, text, and chat with suspects online to communicate. This can be in the form of the UC assuming the identity of a child to investigate child molestation cases or perhaps the UC will assume an identity of a high-tech criminal to investigate a hacker. Either method can require face-to-face interaction between the UC and criminal suspect. This interaction and investigative method will apply similarly to civil investigations.A great example of a successful undercover operation began in 1999 with the Internet Service Provider (ISP), Speakeasy Network, in Seattle, Washington. The Speakeasy Network was hacked from Russian IP addresses. The suspects contacted Speakeasy, identified themselves, and offered to not disclose Speakeasy’s flaws if Speakeasy would pay or hire them. The hackers also claimed to now possess thousands of passwords and credit card numbers from Speakeasy customers. These hackers, Alexey Ivanov and Vasily Gorshkov, continued to hack and extort businesses in this manner.The FBI conducted an intensive undercover operation, in which both Ivanov and Gorhkov agreed to enter the United States to discuss their hacking skills with FBI undercover agents. Through audio and video recorded conversations, keyloggers, sniffers, search warrants, undercover business fronts, and even setting up an undercover computer network for them to hack into, both were convicted on federal felony counts of computer fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy.All undercover operations carry an inherent risk to personal safety. As an investigative method, it also carries a need for intensive resources and skilled UC operators. The effectiveness of a successful undercover operation cannot be overstated. A benefit to being able to speak openly to a suspect while assuming the role of a criminal or conspirator allows for intelligence to be gathered exponentially faster than physical surveillance. Confessions made to an undercover are just as valid as a confession made to a uniformed officer. Future suspect activities, something not easily obtainable otherwise, can be spoken directly to the UC to which future operations can be planned.Less extreme undercover activities can be conducted requiring no more than a phone call. If a specific time and place has been identified as a source of criminal activity, a simple phone call to the suspect will place the suspect at the location at a given time. The phone call need be no more than false pretenses in which the suspect is identified by voice or name. The phone call may not definitely place the suspect at a keyboard; however, tying the suspect to the location by voice is a strong indication. For criminal activity in progress, such as a victim receiving harassing emails from a previously identified location through an IP address trace, a call can be made while the activity is occurring to identify the suspect by voice.If a suspect email address has been identified, emails can be sent to the suspect with a tracking code that obtains the local IP address of the suspect, and then sends the date and time of the email being accessed along with the IP address of the suspect computer. These tracking codes are invisible to most users and email programs, but pose risk of compromise should the code be identified by the suspect through a warning from anti-virus software.Undercover operations coupled with surveillance may also be necessary in order to obtain evidence not able to be obtained otherwise. If a suspect obscures his IP address through any means, without having physical access to the system used in crimes, close contact with the suspect may be required. This contact could be in the form of befriending the suspect in hopes of having information disclosed to the UC. Even only if the manner of hiding the IP address was disclosed, investigative methods to counter the IP address hiding method could be conducted.Informant operations pose the same risks to safety and compromise of the investigation with the added danger of informants being untrained. Informants havevaried reasons for cooperating with law enforcement and not every reason is trustworthy. In many cases, informants are developed from cases, in which the arrested suspects agree to cooperate in consideration for lesser charges. Such was the case of Hector Xavier Monsegur, in June 2011, when he was arrested by the FBI. Monsegur agreed to work for the FBI as an informant, and in doing so, helped the FBI successfully investigate multiple hackers as conspirators. Although Monsegur did agree to cooperate, he also pleaded guilty to a multitude of computer crime charges.Probably the biggest benefit to using informants in a cybercrime investigation is being able to take advantage of this past history and contacts with other cybercriminals. Their reputations may be known and few, if any associates would suspect their long-time partner-in-crime to be working for law enforcement. Undercover officers enter without a history or known accomplices, unless an informant is used to vouch for the undercover officer.Dario Forte, Andrea de Donno, in Handbook of Digital Forensics and Investigation, 2010Investigations of Mobile SystemsInvestigations used to be carried out exclusively by people. In the pure spirit of investigation, you started from information obtained through an undercover agent followed by operations involving trailing suspects and intercepting ordinary mail. Without the help of technological systems, these investigations tended to last much longer than their more modern counterparts.Today, the initiation of an investigation may involve, in addition to verbal information, an anomalous bank record, an image from a surveillance camera, or of course highly visible crimes such as theft or murder.The first phase of the investigation involves interviewing people who may have relevant information and continues with monitoring the means of communication of suspects or others associated in some way with the case. In addition to the traditional telephone, there are other monitoring points such as electronic mailboxes, places visited by the suspect, Telepass accounts (devices used for automatic highway toll payment), credit card accounts, and other financial operations.Nowadays, investigations are supported by software that is customized to meet different requirements. The investigator enters all the data available on a subject into the interception system and the server performs a thorough analysis, generating a series of connections via the mobile devices involved, the calls made or received, and so on, providing criminal police with a well-defined scheme on which to focus the investigation, and suggesting new hypotheses or avenues that might otherwise be hard to identify. Obviously, thanks to the support of the NSP, the data can be supplemented with historical information or other missing data such as other mobile devices connected to a given BTS on a given date and time. Data can also be provided for public payphones, which are often used to coordinate crimes. Again, thanks to a connection with the NSP, it is possible to obtain a historical record of telephone calls made and the location of the payphone with respect to other mobile devices. The same sort of record may also be obtained for highway travel using Telepass (conventional name for automatic wireless toll payment), including average speed and stops.Having historical data of various kinds relating to an investigation accessible in a database can greatly assist the initial examination of a newly acquired mobile device. By extracting all telephone numbers in the phonebook of a mobile device seized during a search and entering names and numbers into the electronic system, digital investigators perform powerful analysis even in the initial phases of the investigation thanks to cross-referencing capabilities. For instance, investigative tools support advanced entity and relation searches, including the nicknames from phonebooks to locate additional related activities. In addition, some investigative tools enable digital investigators to perform traffic analysis, including georeferenced data and diagram generation as shown in Figure 10.2.Figure 10.2. Cellular telephone tracking software, showing the relative movements of two mobile devices over a given period of time.It is thus very important to have investigation software that can quickly import data online (secure and confidential connection with the MC) or from optical media, and that offers flexibility in subsequent processing.Charles A. Sennewald, Curtis Baillie, in Effective Security Management (Sixth Edition), 2016Coordinate with Security on Major or Important InvestigationsThere are occasions when a criminal case would be impossible to conclude successfully without the cooperative effort of both the private and public sectors. A dramatic example of such a case occurred in Los Angeles. Investigators for a chain of department stores learned that a large number of employees and nonemployees were working together in a concerted effort to remove merchandise from the department store’s warehouse. Most of the participants were identified, videos were taken of some of the theft activity, and an undercover agent was successfully placed in the midst of the group by the Security department to provide a flow of intelligence. The department store then went to the local authorities (in this particular case, the District Attorney’s office) for assistance.In a coordinated effort, the following actions occurred. A small electrical supply and service store was obtained about two miles from the warehouse. It was wired for voice recordings. A panel truck equipped with a 16-mm motion picture camera (before the sophisticated video cameras we have today) was parked behind the store. Two investigators from the District Attorney’s office posed as owners of the store and one manned the camera vehicle. Department store investigators secretly marked the kind of merchandise the undercover agent had indicated would be stolen the next day. Through the undercover agent, word was passed to the thieves that there was a new “fence” in the area (the electrical supply store). The department store provided the money to buy the goods. In a short time, regular trips were made to the back door of the “fence,” and investigators were buying stolen merchandise marked by other investigators the night before. The transactions were visually and audibly recorded by the hidden camera.A grand total of 27 culprits were either indicted and arrested, arrested and referred to juvenile authorities, or, in those cases in which a public offense could not be established, discharged from the company.A case of this complexity and magnitude could not have been resolved so successfully had it not been for the cooperation between private security and law enforcement. Criminal investigations provide frequent opportunities for this effective interaction.In Hiding Behind the Keyboard, 2016The Intended AudienceLaw enforcement officers, criminal investigators, and civil investigators are the intended audience simply because they usually confront covert communications in their positions. In actuality, many of these professionals may not even be aware of the covert communications that are already occurring in their investigations. When you do not know what you do not know, you will almost always miss critical evidence and information.Throughout this book, both these terms “suspects” and “targets” are used for the persons involved in covert communications you wish to investigate. The term target is used not as a political or tactical point other than a “target” being the subject of your investigation. A target can be a terrorist, criminal, or corporate spy for whom you want to uncover covert communications.As a practical matter, every person fitting within this intended audience should be well-versed in technology as it relates to communication. The criminals and terrorists of today exploit every means to communicate covertly and anonymously, and most involve technology. To delay learning the methods being used is to delay effectively investigating your targets.NoteHiding Behind the KeyboardJust because your targets use complex methods of covert communication does not mean you cannot use the same methods! Witnesses, informants, agents, undercover officers, and other persons should use secure communications to protect their identities and the information exchanged.Duration of Relevance for This GuideSimilar to Placing the Suspect Behind the Keyboard, this book has been written as a guide to outlast technology advances. Although technology changes constantly by employing the principles in this guide, you should be able to transfer what becomes old technology to the latest technology. It is mastering concepts and principles that are most important in becoming a great investigator.As for the technical information in the book, similar to other technologies, what is possible today may not be possible tomorrow and conversely, what is impossible today may be possible in the future. Simply some things get harder, and other things get easier. Either way, you are reading a book with tools to deal with both situations.Read full chapterView PDFChristopher Burgess, Richard Power, in Secrets Stolen, Fortunes Lost, 2008IntroductionAs the Haephrati case discussed in Chapter 1 illustrates, the theft of trade secrets and other intellectual property has expanded beyond classic industrial age espionage (largely focused on the turning of insiders) to include information age espionage (e.g., hacking into networks or using targeted malware). And it is also true, as has been previously noted, that the severity of the insider threat is often disproportionately emphasized in relation to the severity of the outsider threat.Nevertheless, much illegal activity, particularly in the arenas of economic espionage and trade secret theft, is still predicated on, or instigated by, insiders of one kind or another. Furthermore, this is true regardless of whether the criminal behavior is cyber-based or grounded in the physical world.Four stories from the United States, Korea, and Canada (all of which broke within a period of several weeks in 2006) underscore both the threat from inside, and its diverse manifestations:“The U.S. attorney in Detroit … announced charges of stealing trade secrets against three former employees of an auto supplier, saying economic espionage stabs at the heart of the Michigan economy and is a growing priority among his federal prosecutors. The former employees of Metaldyne Corp., arraigned in U.S. District Court after a 64-count grand jury indictment was unsealed, are accused of stealing the Plymouth, Mich., company’s trade secrets and sharing them with Chinese competitors. They each face up to 20 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000 if convicted. Metaldyne, which has 45 plants in 14 countries, makes a wide range of auto parts for engines, drive trains and chassis systems. The company has annual sales of $2 billion and about 6,500 employees.” (Trade-secret theft charged in Detroit, Baltimore Sun, 7-6-06)“US authorities last night charged three people with a cloak-and-dagger scheme to sell secrets from Coca-Cola to soft drink archrival PepsiCo, which helped in the investigation …. The offer of ‘confidential’ information from Coca-Cola sparked an FBI investigation with an undercover agent offering $US1.5 million dollars in cash. The investigation was launched after PepsiCo turned over to its cola rival a letter in May from a person identifying himself as ‘Dirk,’ who claimed to be employed at a high level with Coca-Cola and offered ‘very detailed and confidential information,’ a US Justice Department statement said. According to authorities, an FBIundercover agent met on June 16 with Dimson, who was posing as ‘Dirk’ at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. Dimson gave the agent ‘a brown Armani Exchange bag containing one manila envelope with documents marked ‘highly confidential’ and one glass bottle with a white label containing a liquid product sample,’ the statement said.” (FBI lays charges on Coke secrets, The Australian, 7-6-06)“About a half of Korea’s top technology firms have suffered from leaks in industrial know-how one way or another over the past three years, although the companies have increased preventive measures, a report showed. According to the report released the Korea Industrial Technology Association on Monday, 11 of 20 Korean firms that had invested the most in research & development have suffered financial damage due to technology leaks in the past three years. When taking into account smaller firms, 20.9 percent out of 459 firms said that they suffered from industrial espionage cases during the period. The rate is 6.4 percentage points higher than three years ago, meaning that firms have become more vulnerable to technology theft …. As Roh pointed out, about 65 percent of the reported cases were found to involve employees from former companies. Only 18 percent and 16 percent of the cases involved current employees and subcontractors of the firms, respectively… The survey was done on 459 firms with in-house R&D departments.” (Cho Jin-seo, Half of Top Tech Firms Suffer Leaks, Korea Times, 6-19-06)“Intelligence files reportedly suggest that an estimated 1,000 Chinese agents and informants operate in Canada. Many of them are visiting students, scientists and business people, told to steal cutting-edge technology. An example being touted as copied technology is China’s Redberry—an imitation of the Blackberry portable e-mail device, created by Waterloo, Ont.-based Research in Motion Ltd …. Juneau-Katsuya said the former Liberal government knew of the espionage, but were too afraid to act. ‘We didn’t want to piss off or annoy the Chinese,’ said Juneau-Katsuya, who headed the agency’s Asian desk. ‘(They’re) too much of an important market.’ However, he argued that industrial espionage affects Canada’s employment levels. ‘For every $1 million that we lose in intellectual property or business, we lose about 1,000 jobs in Canada,’ he said.” (Robert Fife, Government “concerned” about Chinese espionage, Catch Up On Full Episodes For Free News, 4-14-06)Without a robust, twenty-first century Personnel Security program, it won’t matter how much or how well you invest in Information Security, or how fool-proof and high-tech your Physical Security has become, because the perpetrators that will take advantage of your weak or nonexisting Personnel Security program will already be inside both your physical and cyber perimeters.In this chapter, we will highlight some of the most important aspects of what should be in your enterprise’s Personnel Security program, including an overall checklist of the top 20 controls mapped to ISO, and guidelines for background checks (Figure 10.1 illustrates the “hit ratio”—the information discrepancies uncovered during background screening), data, termination procedures, and a travel security program.Figure 10.1. Background Checks Reveal Vital Insights That Offer a Subtle Return on Investment—They Mitigate Risk and Limit LossesView chapterPurchase bookMarius-Christian Frunza, in Introduction to the Theories and Varieties of Modern Crime in Financial Markets, 20163.1 Focus on DerivativesThe role of derivatives is less studied and less well known in the money-laundering process. A basic laundering mechanism is the execution through a brokerage house of a long and short position on the same asset (buying and selling the same future contract or buying a call option and a put option or buying and selling a vanilla swap). The broker will pay the client for the position ending up in the money with clean money and will cancel in his records the out of the money transaction to avoid any audit trail. Technically only the transaction fee and the broker’s margin are costs for the client dealing with illegal funds, but in this way they manage to obtain proof of origin for the funds.Bank of Credit and Commerce International— The First Money LaunderingBackgroundFounded in 1972 by the Pakistani banker Agha Hasan Abedi, and having Bank of America as the main shareholder, BCCI became at one time the biggest private bank in the world. Incorporated in Luxembourg BCCI operated from London and Karachi. From the 1980s the bank became a main platform for global money laundering and was under scrutiny from many regulators and law enforcers.Derivatives and money launderingA well-known example is that of the Bank of Credit and Commerce Internationala and its derivatives arm Capcom led by Syed Ziauddin Ali Akbar, who explained the above scheme to undercover Agent Robert Mazur from US customs in 1988. Agent Mazur testified how Akbar used pairs of long short trades that was called “mirror image” trading to launder huge sums of money. Mirror image trading involved two accounts controlled by the same person and the bank was buying contracts for one account while selling an equal number from another account. Since both accounts are controlled by the same individual any profit or loss is effectively netted. One main advantage of this strategy is that being a zero-sum game it can pass under the radar of auditors among many millions of dollars worth of legitimate transactions, thereby making it untraceable.bTriviaUntil its fall in 1991, the BCCI served many dictators and criminal groups including the ex-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the Medelin Cartels. The CIA also held accounts with the bank to fund the Afghan resistance against the Soviet army, the forerunner of modern Talibans.The mirror trading scheme was also favored by a regulation concerning bunched orders of derivatives, which are orders entered by an account manager that are executed as a block and allocated after execution to customers so the trades may be cleared and for post trade allocation. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulation 1.35(a1) allowed a derivatives broker to not identify his client’s trade allocations during a trading session. The broker could do this in the post trade without specific rules. This specific regulation allowed all types of misconduct in the derivative world including money laundering.The regulation in the United States changed in 2012 when the CFTC imposed new rules on time limits for bunched orders, requiring that bunched orders be allocated as soon as practicable after execution, but also providing absolute deadlines by which allocation must occur. For trades that are cleared, allocation must occur sufficiently before the end of the day the order is executed to identify the ultimate customer for each trade. Account managers are forbidden from giving any account or group of accounts consistently favorable or unfavorable treatment relative to other accounts, in order to reduce the risk of mirror trades.If the cleared derivatives market requires strict monitoring of its participants, the OTC derivatives market offers more maneuver for launderers.3.1.1 OTC DerivativesOTC derivatives are bilateral agreements between two counterparties, that are not traded or executed on an exchange. In some cases, OTC deals can be registered via an exchange without the margin mechanism. Compared to the listed derivatives which are standardized, the OTC products are tailored depending on the needs of the two counterparties. The warning signals in these type of transactions are in the following situations:•The features of the OTC derivative are very different from the cleared versions. A swap with a premium at initiation is generally not a sign of confidence. The Goldman’s Sachs swap offer to the Greek treasury is one example of a derivative used as for malpractice. But in reality this type of instrument can hide other fund exchanges in a laundering scheme.•There is no economic basis for explaining that derivative. As an example a small retail enterprise based in Wales with all costs and revenues indexed in GBP, enter in an OTC Forex forward on YEN/CAD. In these cases, the OTC derivative can justify a one-time payment or flow. Not being marked to market regularly the settlement can occur whenever a fund needs to be transferred.•The valuation of the derivative is sophisticated and uses models which are based on traders’ opinions (Level 3 assets). An example can be a Swiss trading company entering in an OTC accumulator option2 on chrome prices with a Russian metal exporter. As the chrome market is illiquid with not many derivatives listed, the pricing of such a product is almost impossible. This ambiguity can be used to justify a fund transfer between the two firms, part of a laundering scam.Figure 1 shows a simple example of money laundering using OTC derivatives. A criminal group owning a company seeded with illegal funds makes an investment with a specialized firm. This firm does not need to be a financial company, and could easily be a trading house or an importer exporter. The investment firms purchase in OTC exotic derivative products from offshore firms. Sporadic settlements based on “mark to model” (“mark to mob”) justify a fund transfer to the offshore firm. The offshore firm has the same OTC derivative back to back with another counterparty controlled by the crime group, but with a clean record. The same “mark to mob” valuation justifies the transfer of funds to the counterparty resulting in clean funds. The very same scheme is used currently by firms to reduce their tax bills in countries with high taxation rates.Welcomehttps://www.sciencedirect.com/user/login?returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedirect.com%2Ftopics%2Fcomputer-science%2Fundercover-agentFigure 1. Money-laundering OTC derivatives: Placement: A criminal group owning a company seeded with illegal funds makes an investment with a specialized firm. This firm does not need to be a financial company, and could easily be a trading house or an importer exporter. The investment firms purchase OTC exotic derivative products from offshore firms.Layering: Sporadic settlements based on “mark to model” (“mark to mob”) justify a fund transfer to the offshore firm. The offshore firm has the same OTC derivative back to back with another counterparty controlled by the crime group, but with a clean record.Insertion: The same “mark to mob” valuation justifies the transfer of funds to the counterparty resulting in clean funds.View chapterPurchase bookPolice, Sociology ofPolice as a formal institution of social control, organized within the framework of the nation state, emerged during the course of the eighteenth and …https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080430767020040H.-J. Albrecht, D. Nogala, in International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 20012 Determining the SubjectAt first glance and seen from the surface it seems rather trivial to determine who and what constitutes ‘the police.’ One would expect that the police as a public institution is represented by (sworn) officers, i.e., representatives of the state and its government, who are (often) specially trained professionals and are invested with certain powers (like the authority to search or arrest a person). Usually this ‘apparent’ kind of police will appear in public as officers on the beat, a crew in a patrol car, behind a desk in a police station, or as plain-clothes detectives, doing investigations in the field. This is the common and popular image (in the Western world) of what police actually are, transmitted by the media and supported by occasional ordinary encounters. From time to time this picture is widened by the appearance of riot police in full gear, underlining the state's authorization and capability of using legitimately physical force against disobedient citizens or rioting crowds.When one looks again at who and what constitutes police, the semblance becomes more complicated: on the level of involved actors it becomes apparent that a good portion of the workforce employed by police consists of civilian staff, like secretaries or the clerks in the forensic laboratories; some sworn officers, such as staff who are responsible for conducting statistical analysis of criminal incidents or running a computer program for matching data, are rarely out in the field, while certain field officers, like undercover agents or specialists in charge of surveillance of telecommunication, often do not act openly as police. Furthermore there are other state agents who, having similar powers of investigation or intervention, perform certain functions of policing, but are not seen or labeled as ‘police.’ One might think here of custom officers, secret agents, public health inspectors, or prison guards. Still others appear in a policelike guise but are clearly not officers (at least lacking their full powers): city wardens, commercial guards and patrols, hired investigators, vigilante organizations like the ‘Guardian Angels,’ bodyguards, stewards in a football stadium, or bouncers.As professionals trained to use force legitimately in the name of the state's power, police share this somewhat exclusive right with the military and other law enforcement officials (prison, customs). But on the level of routine work processes, this distinguishing feature is a rather rare event compared to the overall picture of police duties. Instead, research has shown that a considerable part of the modern police workload is not at all focused on crime control and investigation of criminal cases, but consists of responding to general emergency calls, mediating conflicts, regulating motor vehicle traffic, and communication with other institutions or agencies like social services, insurance companies, etc.Although it might be clear from a commonsense point of view, what ‘police’ actually are—basically that formal institution which is vested with the powers and resources to respond to criminal acts or public order disturbances and calls itself ‘police’—the subject in question gets more diverse, the more we see it from a perspective of a peculiar organized social activity rather than as a matter of institutionalism. Thus a true ‘sociology of policing’ would cover a wider area and embrace more organizations than the initial ‘police studies.’But even from an institutional approach one has to speak of ‘the police’ either from a very abstract level or from a single case point of view only. Besides the common similarities in terms of historical developments, organizational models, practical strategies and tactics, and legal accountabilities, every country's police system has its own particularities and unique arrangement of forces.It should not be overlooked that police as a subject of sociological interest is linked in many ways with other social systems, all of them carrying their own, often overlapping, bodies of literature: as an instrument of executive governance ‘the police’ can be seen as a segment of the sociology of the state. Its quality of being an important part of the criminal justice system and its more or less explicit legal bindings does make it a component of the sociology of law. Last but not least, on the level of empirical studies there are clear ties to the field of organizational sociology.View chapterPurchase bookCopyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. or its licensors or contributors. ScienceDirect ® is a registered trademark of Elsevier B.V.

Whether you’ve started a blog yet or not there’s one thing I can be sure of: you’d like to make money. We all do. We need it in order to survive. What’s so cool about “this day and age” is that we can do it from virtually anywhere with the internet. My personal preference is to make money from my blog. In this post I’m going to break down step-by-step how to create a profitable blog in 2018. How you can magnify your presence, make blogging fun, and of course how you can make money from your blog.Earning money from your blog seems like a far fetched idea sometimes. There are billions of blogs out there. There are so many things to write about and set up. But in reality it doesn’t need to feel so overwhelming. I remember when I first started my blog back in 2012. I first created a niche blog that focused on the topic of “deals of the day” in Dallas. It did just fine, but it was soul sucking. It had nothing to do with me and it wasn’t making me happy.Then I created Helene in Between (my current blog). The blog didn’t have a clear direction but I loved working on it. Fast forward to now. I still don’t believe in blog niches, but I do believe in having a focused blog. I write about blogging and social media as well as my travels and life abroad. It’s not so narrow that I’m bored but it’s not so broad that I want to throw in the towel with so much to do.Today I can say that I am meeting not only my blogging goals and making money from my passion, but living my dream. I moved abroad, I work from wherever in the world, and I have fun doing it. I am an average person. I am not famous or a genius. We all have our strengths. We can all find our passions, fine tune them, and create a blog and life we want. Do not underestimate your potential. We are all unique and we all have resources we can and should share. No matter what you want to focus on.This guide intends to give you everything you need to create a profitable blog this year. Whether you’re starting from scratch and not even sure where to find a logo, or you’ve been at it for a while and are ready to make money and see more traffic. It is simple to create a blog that you love and a blog that you can profit from. Here’s how.HOW TO CREATE A PROFITABLE BLOG IN 2018No matter what stage blogger you’re in, I recommend reading this guide all the way though. I broke down the best ways to ensure your blog is on a steady path and one that helps you make money. Yes, even from the beginning!STEP ONE: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE KNOWN FOR?I think in order to make money blogging you need to figure out what you want to be known for. Now, that doesn’t mean you need to pick a niche. Of course, if you’re super passionate about one particular subject, then by all means, go for it. But if you’re like me, and you have varied interests and topics you want to write about, then you can still profit from your blog, regardless.So often we’re told we need to pick a niche and when we do so, that’s how we can profit and grow our blogs. I’m here to tell you that is not the case. I believe focusing on interesting, relevant, and valuable content is the key to a successful blog.Instead of figuring out a niche think about what your focus will be instead. Answer this question: what do you want to be known for? Maybe you like talking about delicious recipes with a Southern flare. Perhaps you help bloggers create beautiful graphics. Or you are a traveler exploring the off-the-beaten path destinations. Don’t worry if you’re a combination. The key here is to focus on your passions. There is no way to have a profitable, money-making blog when you only focus on just trying to make a buck. People will see right through that.Basically, we want to write the type of content that people crave. That means it: reminds us that we matter, gives us hope or faith in the bigger picture, explains or tells a story, shows your authenticity, pulls at our emotions, surprises us (in a good or bad way), confirms our assumptions, takes us on a journey, challenges our way of thinking, entertains us, shows us successes and/or failures, gives us a unique point of view. Despite all of this realize that your message will resonate with someone. It’s important to put it out there.STEP TWO: HOW TO DECIDE WHAT TO BLOG ABOUTDid you know exactly what you wanted to be when you grew up? What about in school? For me, I had no clue. I was always envious of those that knew they wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, mom, etc. I was not so sure. The same goes for blogging. Most people don’t know what subject to pick.Deciding what to blog about can be one of the toughest parts. But if you KNOW you want to start a blog my advice is: JUST DO IT. Just start. If you don’t start now then why wait later? You hitting publish on a post now won’t rock the world, yet, but it also won’t (most likely) offend or hurt anyone. So many people tell me: “I’m just so scared!”It can be scary to hit publish but there’s no time like now.When it comes to creating a blog I suggest doing a bit of brainstorming. Write out some things that you love and then start putting pen to paper. Or fingers to keyboard.Do you have to have a niche blog? My answer is of course no. But let’s take a look at someone else: Chasing Foxes. This is just a wonderful, writes-about-everything blog and follows their passion. They make 5 figures a month. How? They write well and they focus on a Pinterest strategy (more on that later, keep reading!).PROFITABLE BLOG TOPICS:How to save money when…. i.e. shopping, buying a home, renting/buying a car, saving for college, at SephoraTips to cure… hiccups, blog design, writer’s block, ugly photos, burned dinnerHow to find… the perfect prom dress, the best makeup for your face shape, the best recipe for Friendsgiving20 Websites To Visit If You Want To Be a Better … Chef, Blogger, Web Designer, Photographer, Tennis playerHow to make money on… ebay, garage sales, etsyHow to stop… procrastinating, overeating, anxietyHow to start… working out, eating healthy, working for a magazineWhat does this all mean? Pick a few things you’re passionate about and write with focus. Remember, it’s okay if this changes! The beauty of blogging is that it doesn’t have to be perfect. There’s this myth that in order to have stellar SEO (search engine optimization is how search engines, like Google, find your blog) you need to blog about one tiny thing. Like how to clean your toothbrush properly. Can you imagine writing daily about cleaning a tooth brush? No. And it’s just not true. I write about a multitude of things and I still come up FIRST in many search engines for certain terms.So bottom line: chill out and let’s start that blog! If you already have a blog skip on down to number five.STEP THREE: START A BLOGLet’s get one thing straight: you CAN start a blog on a budget. But please, please set it up right the first time so you don’t have to be stressed later. There is a (tiny) bit of grunt work to start a blog. But I’m going to walk you through this. I guarantee if I can do this, so can you.SET UP HOSTING AND DOMAIN NAMEI’ve been on all the big platforms: Blogger, Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress. I wish that I would just always stick with WordPress. This is coming from someone who was a full-time, professional blogger who once was on Blogger. WordPress does it all and then some. If you’d like a detailed pro/con list of why to go with WordPress or any other platform, check out this post.Next, you need hosting. Hosting is the service that allows your website to viewed and ensures that it can handle traffic. Before I made a decision I did tons of research (if you know me, you know that I always go over the top on my research). And I found the best hosting provider out there with Siteground. The main reasons? Reliability, support, and ease of use. Siteground works and they are there for you when you need them. Which can be really important if you run into any issues with your blog. They also offer an easy to use installer and free transfer. So it makes it seamless to transition your blog.Create a profitable blog today with Siteground.After clicking to go on to Siteground, follow these steps:Click “Web Hosting”, the first option you’ll see on the left. Click “Learn More”.Choose a plan. I suggest starting with “StartUp” (first option on the left). Click “Get Started”.Next, register your domain OR choose that you already have a domain. This is where you’ll put in your “http://www.yourblgonamehere.com”. The thing that I LOVE about Siteground is you can create a new domain RIGHT from the program. Click “Proceed”.SaveEnter in your contact and payment information. I suggest getting the privacy and site monitoring services. This is to ensure your privacy. But of course, they are optional.Install WordPress. You can also have Siteground set it up for you!CHOOSE A THEMEThe theme of you blog gives it the look and feel that you want and allows you to structure your blog how you see fit. Unless you’re a coder I suggest having a theme. There are two parts to a theme: the framework (think of this as the frame of a house) and the child theme (think of this as the paint and landscaping). The framework makes up the bones or foundation of your blog. I use and suggest Genesis. This is what I use for myself and the reason being is it’s the best choice and works with many of my favorite child themes.As for your child theme this is what you can think of as the blog design. There are many options out there. I recommend Restored 316 and the options on Creative Market. A brand I’m really loving lately for well priced (think under $50) designs is Code + Coconut. Simple and pretty themes that also work with Genesis. It will take some time to choose this but know you can always change it. If you feel particularly stumped with any of the above you can always ask for help. I use a company to help manage my blog and install my designs called WP Help.You might notice that some blogs have things like opt in boxes, social share buttons, and more. These are plugins they install on their blog (many are free) to customize the look and feel of the blog even more.CHOOSING A LOGOIf you’re looking for a logo you can design it yourself with tools like Canva or Photohop. If, like me, you’re not great at designing there are a few tools that you can use to really help you out. I love the designs inside of Creative Market. You simply search for a logo you like and can even find designers who can customize it.I wanted a bit more detail to my logo but when I looked to hire a designer I felt it was crazy expensive. Then I discovered 99 Designs. Y’all, this is a game changer! If you need anything designed (even a website) I highly recommend this. Here’s how it works: specify what you’re looking for. Then, you’ll hear back from dozens of professional designers and be able to narrow down your favorites and what you like on your website. Then you’ll pick your top 3 designers and they battle it out to create the best graphic for you. You pay one price. It’s much cheaper than hiring someone and you get literally dozens of options. I am obsessed!STEP FOUR: HIT PUBLISHOne of the most common questions I’m asked: When should I start publishing on my blog? My answer? Yesterday. There is no right time. The sea will not part, you will not receive some magical sign. Many people are afraid to share. It can be scary to reveal more of yourself online. That’s what a blog is, isn’t it? But in order to succeed you just need to go for it.Yes, I do suggest to have an “about me” page, a “contact” page and maybe a page dedicated to what you are interested in or intend to write about, but it’s not necessary when you first hit publish. Just putting yourself out there is enough. As you start writing you will learn what works for you and this will help you structure your other pages and your blog itself.Remember, your blog can change. My blog has had a number of major changes over the years: name change, about a dozen different blog designs, writing, direction, etc. I find that as you grow and as you write your blog will grow with you. The important step as you go is finding your ideal reader. Who do you want to read your blog. You MUST map this out. And it’s important to think about this every step of the way. You cannot improve your blog, make money blogging, or drive traffic without having a solid understanding of your ideal follower.For me, my blog is a mix of things but my reader is clear: she is a 20-40 something woman who wants to live a meaningful life through experiences and goals. Tailoring your work to a specific audience is one of the best things you can do for your blog. When you try to write to everyone you wind up writing to no one. So sit down and figure out who your ideal reader really is and that’s when you will find your community.Writing great content is not only how you’re found online, it’s establishing trust from readers. When you create confidence in your audience they are more likely to stick around, share your blog, and also buy from you.STEP FIVE: DRIVE TRAFFIC TO YOUR BLOGHow do you drive traffic to your blog? There are only two things you need to really drive traffic and create a money making blog: killer content and a community. I’m going to dive deep on what that means for each.First and foremost, write great content. It sounds simple but it isn’t. In order to build a raving audience that continues to come back again and again you need to write wonderful content. You need to write something of value. This can mean vastly different things to different people. Maybe you’ll discuss your struggles with infertility. Many women out there can connect with the same feelings of hopelessness. Or you’ll write something funny about going to the grocery store in a foreign country. People will connect with this or it will make them laugh. If you’re a social media expert you’ll tell how to grow your Facebook page in a simple way. All of these provide value and offer inspiration. I like to call this “foundational content.”You want to write content that makes people say: wow, I want to read that blog again.And then they do. They subscribe to your newsletter or they follow you on social media. Now, you’ve started forming a community. This community is the one that will keep coming back again and again. But more than that they will share your content and will most likely BUY from you! Think about a blog you love. Why do you follow it? Now apply that to yourself. You need to create and foster a community and build it up with consistent, great content. That doesn’t mean you need to post daily. I post about 2 times a week and feel happy with that (and receive about 150,000 views a month on my blog). You need to do what works for you.Truthfully, you can’t have one without the other. If you have a community you won’t want to piss them off with less than sub-par content. If you have great content that will encourage your community to spread the word and keep coming back for more. Creating both is how you get on the path to continually driving traffic and making money.Now of course, social media plays a vital role in this community and driving traffic. For this I suggest being on all platforms but concentrating efforts on one or two where you see the most potential. For example, I see the most traffic (personally) from Pinterest and Instagram. Therefore, I focus most of my effort on those two social media platforms. I regularly share to Instagram and Pinterest and I am constantly learning how to improve my skills on both.STEP SIX: CREATE AN OPT INOkay, you’re writing great stuff and building your community. You’re starting to gain traffic. But wait, how can you keep them around?! Better yet, how can you make money? You need to create an opt-in. This free opt in will ensure that they stick around and hopefully buy from you in the future. When you create a newsletter or email list for your blog it gives you a chance to select the exact type of people that you want to keep coming back again and again.For example, let’s say you write a post on your delicious healthy recipes. You create an opt in for a free meal calendar. Eventually, you will sell your recipe eBook. Since you created the freebie, you already have people on your email list who are your target market and would be very interested in purchasing from you.Take it from me, when I first started my email list I was at 0. Within 5 months I hit 5,000 newsletter subscribers and was making about $1,500 a month – just from my email list! Your newsletter is your direct connection to your audience. Creating an email list is how you turn casual readers into buyers and lifelong fans of your blog.Many people are worried about how often they should send out a newsletter (aka, they don’t have time) or that they aren’t sure what to send out to people. There is no rule book when it comes to creating an opt in. You don’t have to send something out every time you post, every week, or even every month. I personally only send out my newsletter when I want to share something important (like a big life change), something valuable (like a deal or a sale on a product I’m using I think they might like to use), or when I’m promoting my own products or hosting a webinar. Honestly, I might share to my newsletter every three months or so.Here’s a detailed guide on how to create a newsletter for your blog. I recommend using Convertkitbecause it’s a straightforward, easy-to-set-up platform, created by bloggers for bloggers. I have used MailChimp in the past (it’s free for up to 2,000 subscribers) but Convertkit is just so much more intuitive and helps me to make more money becuase I can easily segment my list. I also think it’s easier to create the freebie and link it up to my blog through Convertkit.Here’s the process:1. Write a post on a topic you’re passionate about.2. Create a “freebie” that people can opt in to that’s related to the post. Example: an ebook, checklist, or pdf guide. You can create this straight from your computer.3. When they “subscribe” automatically send them an email with their freebie. I do this seamlessly in Convertkit by creating a form that automatically sends them the download.4. That’s it’s!! Only email your list when you feel like it.When you create an email list don’t worry about having multiple welcome emails or opt ins. Start simple and you’ll learn as you go. The important step is just to start it and you’ll see over time which posts work when creating an opt in.STEP SEVEN: MAKE MONEY BLOGGINGLet’s get something clear, in case you just skipped on down to this step, you can’t make money blogging without the above. You need to know who you’re blogging to, why, create great content, and a community. That needs to be present before you can make money. They are all related to each other and reflect back on whether or not you start to monetize your blog.To me, there are many ways to make money blogging. But in reality, there are 4 key ways to create income for a blogger. Those are: advertising, affiliate marketing, sponsored opportunities, products (digital and physical), and online education. I want to take a brief look at each and how you can use them for your blog.ADVERTISINGThe ads on the sidebar, top, middle, and bottom of a blog are advertising. These can be from places like a network such as Google Adsense. Here’s how ad networks work: you get paid per view and per click on the ads. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s not anything like $1 per click and 20 cents per view. It’s much lower than that. But it still adds up. The key here: the more views, the more money you’ll make. Back in the day, in the advent of blogs, bloggers could make a full time income just from ads. Not the case anymore. Unless you’re getting millions of hits a month, you’ll need other strategies to make a full time income.How to succeed with advertising on your blog: the more page views, the more likely you’ll grow your advertising income.AFFILIATE MARKETINGOne of my favorite ways to monetize a blog is with affiliate marketing. Here’s how it works: you share about products, services, anything you love already on your blog. With affiliate links you link to the product and make a small commission on it when your readers click and buy. I love to share the products that help me grow my blog. And I make sure to only share about products that work for me. For example, I’m a huge fan of Hootsuite, a scheduling tool for social media. When I blog about it (for example, this post on How to Schedule Blog Posts Like a Boss) I know if others click and buy, I make a small commission. It’s already something I’m using and loving and my readers can trust that I will only share about products I recommend.I also suggest creating posts that relate to the product or how you use it. When you show your audience why it matters or how to use it they are more likely to buy it. Again, this echos back to creating a community and sharing valuable content.How to succeed with affiliate marketing on your blog: only share products and services you love. Write posts that directly relate to the product and take it a step further by sending out an email to your list to encourage them to buy the product.SPONSORED OPPORTUNITIESSponsored posts are ones where payment comes from either a company or third party that pays you a flat fee to include their product, service, event, location, you name it in your post. For example, I worked with Visit Britain earlier this year to write about my experiences in Manchester and Liverpool. I was paid a fee to write about my honest opinion. I’ve also worked with companies like Pollinate Media and Collective Bias that help you connect with companies looking to work with influencers.If you’re wanting to see how to work with companies check out how to make money with sponsored posts. OR, if you’re a travel blogger, check out the full guide on landing sponsored travel. No matter what stage you’re in you can get sponsored blog posts or social media shares.How to succeed with sponsored opportunities on your blog: only take things that your readers would love. Write the post in your normal blogging voice and deliver on time. Don’t be afraid to negotiate and reach out to others.PRODUCTS OR SERVICESAs far as products go, you can sell anything! From an eBook, course, coffee mug, t shirt, one-on-one coaching, you name it. Most of the time these products do take some leg work meaning, you have to set them up, create the payment system, deliver the product or online education, and promote them. But along with this, there are more opportunities for you to monetize. Instead of getting a portion of the profit you get all the profit.If you can provide value, whether a service or product, you can sell something from your blog. The key is to understand what your audience needs and how you’re uniquely qualified to deliver it to them. For example, let’s say you’re a graphic designer. You often write about how to design simple graphics. You start a course on how to design your blog from scratch. You can sell the course through Teachable (or really any platform that lets you sell courses or books) and promote the course on your blog, newsletter, and social media.A place I recommend to sell your Digital Products or courses is SamCart. This is what I use to take payments for my eBook, Lightroom Presets, and my online course. It’s easy to use and makes selling your stuff simple. You can check out my shop here.If you’re selling a physical product a great place to do this is Etsy, or you can have your own store front with Shopify.How to succeed with products or services on your blog: have a clear understanding of who you’re selling to and WHY they need this. Make a plan of action and stick to it!No matter what area you choose to focus on, it’s a good idea to have more than one iron in the fire. I personally bring in income from all of the above ways and it ensures that no matter what, I have one income stream coming in. Even if you’re a beginning blogger you can still make an income, especially when you have a solid understanding of your reader, a newsletter in place, and some social media. Don’t forget to analyze your results along the way. That goes for your whole blog. Keep track of your stats so you can see where to improve and what topics people gravitate towards.STEP EIGHT: LEARN A SKILLI wholeheartedly believe the best way to grow is to keep learning. I am always taking an online course, reading a book or blog, or listening to a podcast to learn what will work for me online. Enhancing your skill set not only helps you improve it also helps you make money.Remember how I said above about concentrating some efforts on social media? Learning a new skill and improving your social media, SEO, writing development, keyword research, etc. is a great way to continue to grow. I have taken classes on webinars, email marketing, SEO, business, Facebook ads, and so much more. Do your research to make sure the offer or course or book is legitimate. Then go for it. Make sure to hold yourself accountable along the way.If you got down to the bottom of this post… congrats! I know this was a doozy. But I wanted to completely cover the best way to monetize your blog, no matter where you are in the process. The best way to create a profitable blog is when you are passionate about what you do and share valuable content with your readers.