Etg Alcohol Testing and Its Unreliability

Drug testing laboratories use a common method of  <a onClick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/article_exit_link');" href=http://www.trimegalabs.co.uk/resources/etg-alcohol-testing.php>EtG Alcohol Testing</a> to test for alcohol consumption. However, studies now show that this test doesn’t really differentiate well between consumption and exposure to relatively small amounts of alcohol. They may even be so sensitive as to pick up alcohol is many household or personal items, such as mouthwash or cold medicine. <a onClick="javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('/outgoing/article_exit_link');" href=http://www.trimegalabs.co/resources/urine-alcohol-testing.phpUrine Alcohol Testing</a> has been a difficult test to perfect as scientists are looking for the perfect way to confirm if the presence of alcohol is in the urine.

The EtG test is known as a biomarker tests that detects the level or presence of ethyl gucuronide in urine samples. Generally this test is good for detecting if there is any alcohol in someone’s system that is not legally eligible to drink at all. However, they may cause a false positive for those that are legally eligible to drink and may have had some alcohol but not very much. This is where the difficulty lies. Studies found that while many household products contain alcohol and will show up the test, age and ethnicity will also play a determining factor.

So, what actually happens to your body when you drink alcohol? When you take a drink of alcohol the liquid seeps into the stomach and intestines and then into the bloodstream. From here it ends up in the liver. The liver removes the toxins. Since the liver is the first organ that the blood from the stomach and intestines enters before circulating throughout the body, it will have the highest concentration of the alcohol. This is exactly why the liver is prone to such damaging effects. Enzymes in the liver break it down either into water or carbon dioxide and then pass it through the lungs or urine. Each individual will go through this process as varying rates and each person will feel the effects of the alcohol differently.

Courts have rules that while the EtG test may have its uses it cannot be used as a tool to determine alcohol consumption. However, it can be used to possibly dig a little deeper into an issue or as one tool of many used in an investigation. More in-depth blood alcohol test, urine tests or hair alcohol testing.

It seems that more and more companies, high schools, and families are utilizing these types of tests to keep people honest and on task. Since so many tests exist, each situation needs to be looked at carefully to determine which type of test would be the most useful. While these tests do have their place and usefulness in society, we need to be careful on the fact that sometimes we may encounter false positives. This could be extremely detrimental if the case is a serious one and reliability is of the utmost importance. It seems that random drug and alcohol testing and becoming a common part of our society. We will probably all experience these tests at some point in our lives. We need to all know that our tests are going to be reported accurately.