The measurand problem in breath alcohol testing.

Commentary on: Vosk T, Forrest AR, Emery A, McLane LD. The measurand problem in breath alcohol testing. J Forensic Sci 2014 Feb 6. Doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.12406 [Epub ahead of print].

Interference in laboratory tests

Interference in clinical laboratory testing can create discrepancies in test results which can lead to patient harm.  In clinical chemistry, interference is defined as a cause of medically significant difference in the measurand test result due to another component or property of the sample. Interference by endogenous and exogenous substances with assays for clinical analytes is a common prob...

Lack of Effect of Over-the-Counter Oral Care Strips on a Forensic Breath Alcohol Testing Device

There have been a considerable number of cases litigating the validity of the forensic breath alcohol test and the potentials for a false positive ethanol reading. Recently, a claim asserted that the prior use of an over-the-counter (OTC) “oral care strip” normally used to suppress halitosis of the oral cavity, produced a false positive result when a subject was given a breath alcohol test duri...

Random Breath Testing (Policy Brief)

The use of breath tests to assess the extent of alcohol use has become a standard procedure in the enforcement of impaired driving laws in many countries around the world. In Canada, if a police officer has a reasonable suspicion that a driver has consumed alcohol, he or she can demand the driver provide a sample of breath for analysis using an approved screening device (ASD). “Random” or “mand...

Effectiveness of Sobriety Checkpoints for Reducing Alcohol-Involved Crashes

The goal of sobriety checkpoints is to deter drinking and driving by systematically stopping drivers for assessment of alcohol impairment, thus increasing the perceived risk of arrest for alcohol-impaired driving. This review examines the effectiveness of random breath testing (RBT) checkpoints, at which all drivers stopped are given breath tests for blood alcohol levels, and selective breath t...