| With alcohol consumption being an understood and | | | | difference between EtG in liquor and common |
| incorporated part of many cultures,It has become | | | | household products, it is for this reason many |
| a integral part of these societies to realize that a | | | | laboratories have begun using more sophisticated |
| method of detection needs to exist for such a | | | | methods of pin-pointing whether the EtG detected |
| possibly problematic substance. Developed roughly | | | | is actually liquor that was consumed. |
| thirty years and to date, among the most | | | | Recent outcry was legally issued against |
| comprehensive and simplest methods of detecting | | | | products which test for EtG due to many |
| alcohol are through testing a urine sample. | | | | subjects of the test claiming they abstained from |
| Detecting alcohol in the urine commonly employs | | | | alcohol but still surfaced as positive for alcohol |
| a test for Ethyl Glucoronide (EtG), a metabolite of | | | | consumption. Courts in the United States have |
| ethanol alcohol. | | | | recently issued statements stating that because |
| Presence of EtG in the urine is used to detect | | | | the EtG is so sensitive as to be triggered by |
| recent alcohol consumption, even after the | | | | something like hand sanitizer on one hands dabbing |
| ethanol alcohol itself is no longer detectable. | | | | the testing area, the EtG test will no longer be an |
| Therefore the presence of EtG is often a | | | | admissible finding on its own in court. In matters |
| definitive marker that alcohol was ingested. While | | | | of a strictly legal context, further examination and |
| unable to give an exact number as to how | | | | testing beyond a single EtG reading will be needed |
| much alcohol was ingested, the testing for EtG | | | | for someone to have any legal leverage with it |
| has an exclusive advantage in that it can detect | | | | whatsoever. |
| the presence of alcohol or roughly 80 hours after | | | | In response to these findings, a new test known |
| it has been ingested. Another clear marker and | | | | as the EtG/EtS test was developed for |
| difference in this method of testing is that EtG will | | | | laboratories to find out conclusively if alcohol had |
| only stay in the body if a sufficient amount of | | | | in fact been absorbed into the system through |
| Ethanol Alcohol has been consumed. These tests | | | | liquor consumption. Short for Ethyl Sulfate, the |
| can vary but the most common can check | | | | EtS factor of the test is merely the guarantee in |
| variations of 100 ng/ml, 250 ng/ml, and 500 ng | | | | finding out if alcohol was consumed, where the |
| ml. Yet even with these different levels of | | | | EtG can be set to find levels of alcohol that has |
| testing, the only thing that can really distinguish | | | | been absorbed into the system, the EtS certifies |
| between them is the ability to better limit false | | | | that the alcohol present is from liquor and not one |
| positive episodes; it is in no way better able to tell | | | | of the few household products known to falsely |
| how much alcohol was actually consumed a day | | | | trigger an EtG from time to time. |
| or three ago. | | | | Something to keep in mind is that even with a |
| Alcohol tests that simply check for the presence | | | | high dose reading on a EtG/EtS test it would be |
| of Ethanol Alcohol will very rarely come back as | | | | foolish to necessarily conclude that heavy drinking |
| inconclusive because of mouthwash or | | | | took place. The EtG/EtS is best measured and |
| cough-syrup consumption, products which are | | | | used for a zero-tolerance environment, where it |
| legally allowed to contain Ethanol Alcohol. It | | | | can safely detect most alcohol abuse that |
| should be noted that new case studies have | | | | something like a breathalyzer could easily have |
| surfaced which show that the ETG test isn't quite | | | | missed. |
| as reliable as initially perceived in distinguishing the | | | | |