DUI Defender

Increasingly technology is developing new tests for alcohol and the technology trickles down to the common person. Some years ago a new test was developed for a chemical called EtG which seems to be some sort of metabolyte of alcohol. If the EtG shows up in a urine test it is proof of recent alcohol consumption. The test was developed in response to the fact that alcohol is quickly metabolized and vanishes from urine in a very short period of time. The concern was that alcoholics could time their alcohol consumption to meet the demands of a random urine testing program. As it turns out, random urine testing programs are quite common for people involved in the health care industry that have either admitted an alcohol problem, been convicted of an alcohol related offense or otherwise raised a red flag regarding alcohol consumtion. The panels that oversee these professionals realized the shortfalls of conventional urine testing for alcohol and turned to the EtG test.

One problem, false positives. As the EtG test has gained momentum a growing number of persons involved in the EtG testing program have tested positive for alcohol while vigorously denying alcohol consumption. One of the earliest proponents of the test, Dr. Gregory Skipper, the Director of Alabama’s monitoring-and-assistance program for addicted physicians, has conducted independent studies proving that false positives are not only possible but likely. The most likely source of the false positive, Purel Hand Sanitizer. Purel is very common in the health care industry and is composed of 62% alcohol. While the means of cantamination isn’t certain, people involved think that inhalation is the most likely source of the alcohol tested by the EtG test.

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