EVALUATION OF PRODUCTS THAT MAY CAUSE FALSE POSITIVITIES IN BREATH ALCOHOL TEST

Büşra Deniz¹, Kenan Kaya^{1, *}, Yunus Deniz²

¹Department of Forensic Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey - ²Adana Şehir Hospital, Adana, Turkey

Introduction and objective: It is known that driving under the influence of alcohol paves the way for traffic accidents, causes material and moral losses as well as many injuries and deaths. One of the measures taken to prevent the use of drunk driving is alcohol inspections carried out in traffic. In these inspections, breathalyzer devices that detect the alcohol level from the breath are used due to ease of use. However, sometimes there may be objections to measurements made with the alcohol meter and the matter is referred to the judicial authorities. However, sometimes there may be objections to the measurements made with the breathalyzer and the issue is referred to the judicial authorities. It is known that there are points to be considered in order to get accurate results from these devices. In this study, it is aimed to examine the products that may affect breath alcohol testing and the relationship of these effects with time.

Materials and methods: An experimental study was conducted involving 30 healthy volunteers with 33 different products that we think may affect the breath alcohol level. Breath alcohol analysis was performed via the breathalyzer device at the first minute after the use or consumption of the products. In case of a positive measurement result, the measurement was continued at two-minute intervals until the alcohol value detected in the breath was zeroed.

Results: In the measurements made after the consumption of organic grapes, pomegranate, orange juice and tangerine fizzy drinks, a positive measurement result was encountered only in the first minute. Positive measurement results were observed, which continued by decreasing until third minute after the consumption of turnip juice, up to fifth minute after the use of hand sanitizers, up to seventh minute after the use of cologne and up to the eleventh minute after the use of alcohol-containing mouthwashes. The maximum values measured with the breathalyzer in the first minute are 4.90 g/L (‰/ permille) in mouthwashes, 1.96 g/L in hand sanitizers, 2.76 g/L in cologne and 0.32 g/L in beverages. No alcohol was detected in the respiratory air in the measurements made after testing toothpastes, non- alcoholic mouthwashes, fizzy drinks, cola, orange fizzy drink, ayran, kefir, gum and sugar with menthol, organic apple juice and mixed fruit juices.

Conclusion: In the breath alcohol test, positive measurement results were encountered in people who were known not to consume alcoholic beverages but used alcoholic products or consumed some foods. By making measurements after a certain period of time for people who state that they use or consume these products, erroneous sanctions to be applied due to these errors and unnecessary workload will be prevented by avoiding these false positive results.