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Can the oral uptake of ethanol in the mouth, throat and gums be
detected in a breathanalyser as being a false positive for an
alledged drinking episode. If so, why ? If not, why ? I'm in trouble
over using Peridex (prescription) while being monitored by
www.smartstartinc.com for an OWI first. The read outs show a spike
into positive territory within 30-40 min of use. Any guidance-it
could be my freedom !!!
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The following message was posted to: PharmPK
Ethanol can be detected in the breath after using a mouthwash for up
to 20 minutes after use (This is old news). Absorption takes place
from all
mucosal surfaces, and depending on the duration of exposure, measurable
blood alcohol concentrations may occur. However, you would probably
have a
hard time absorbing enough alcohol this way to produce forensically
significant concentrations in the general circulation, unless of
course you
happened to swallow the mouthwash. To determine the possibility of
significant absorption of a pharmaceutical containing alcohol, you
need to
know its formulation strength and the possibility of absorbing
sufficient
alcohol to result in a detectable reading by the breath analysis
instrumentation.
Dr. Daniel S. Sitar
Professor and Head, Dept. of Pharmacology and Therapeutics
Professor, Dept of Internal Medicine (Clinical Pharmacology)
Tel: 204-789-3532; FAX 204-789-3932
Web Address: www.umanitoba.ca/medicine/pharmacology
Email: sitar.-a-.cc.umanitoba.ca
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Dear "OWI First",
Residual alcohol in the mouth (from very recent drinking, mouthwash
use, etc.) can result in a "false positive" on a breathalyser
instrument. However, this artifact effect disappears quickly (within
ca. 15 minutes).
Thus in most jurisdictions, the forensic alcohol testing procedure
requires that a "wait period" of at least 15 minutes must elapse
before testing commences.
Since Peridex contains about 12 % alcohol, one would expect that
immediately after its use (mouthwash) one would observe a high
reading on the old Breathalyzer instrument. More modern instruments
such as the BAC DataMaster would alert the operator of the possible
presence of mouth alcohol with the "status message", INVALID SAMPLE.
With properly conducted "breathalyser testing", the presence of mouth
alcohol is not a problem.
Regards,
Peter
Peter W. Mullen, PhD, FCSFS
KEMIC BIORESEARCH
Kentville
Nova Scotia, B4N 4H8
Canada
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Hi!
We have an Alco Sensor IV breathalyzer in our unit and its manual
clearly
mentions that if there has been an immediate intake of alcohol, the
person,
who has to be tested, must be made to wait for a period of 15
minutes. Hence
we can get some idea of how long alcohol can be present in the mouth
(i do
not have the exact data, and esp that related to Peridex). However, I do
know that these machines are very sensitive. A colleague wanted to
test our
machine and slightly rubbed a cotton spirit swab on his lips, and after
about 15-20 seconds blew into the breathalyzer...the result was 016
mg/100ml!!!!
I hope this info makes you put pieces together for the arguement.
Good luck!
Dr. Gagandeep Singh
Head - Clinical Research
BioArc (Alembic Ltd)
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