Incriminating alcohol tests face fresh scrutiny.
Fail an alcohol test and you could lose your job. But confidence is draining from the blood and urine tests that are supposed to show conclusively whether someone has been drinking – and the US government has decided it's time to take another look at them.
Typically, the body destroys alcohol within 6 hours, so the tests are designed to pick up tiny amounts of substances such as ethyl glucuronide (EtG) and ethyl sulphate (EtS) that are formed exclusively from the breakdown of alcohol. These remain detectable in urine for almost a week.
But the tests can return a positive result in people who haven't drunk any alcohol but have been exposed to minute quantities of it in alcohol-based hand-wipes and mouthwashes, alcohol-free wine, and even foods such as bananas and sauerkraut.
In the US, several legal cases are under way in which doctors, nurses and other professionals who were being monitored for abstinence but tested positive are protesting their innocence.
The courts need guidance from SAMHSA," says William Meyer, a senior fellow of the National Association of Drug Court Professionals. "Can SAMHSA set a cut-off level which will reliably predict knowing alcohol consumption, and exclude accidental exposure?" he asked.
Claims of "false positive EtG tests" from incidental exposure to alcohol began to occur. An online registry and listserve was developed for for those who claimed they'd been falsely accussed of drinking. The clamor of concern among this group rose rapidly and became extremely vigorous. This phenomenon of incidental exposure is very similar to the phenomenon of poppy seeds causing positive tests for morphine and is discussed in more depth in a separate section of this website. A factor that makes incidental exposure to alcohol a concern is that there are literally thousands of items used every day that contain ethanol and exposure can occur from multiple sources and is additive.
Links:
Alcohol Marker test website: http://etg.weebly.com/
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20112-incriminating-booze-tests-face-fresh-scrutiny.html