Myth #8: Breath Test — Belching Cannot Affect A Breath Test
Breath test operators often let arresting officers untrained in obtaining a breath sample observe the defendant for a portion of the 15 or 20 minute deprivation period. The problem is that the arresting officers may only be looking for foreign object intake, if they are really observing at all.
Contamination of a delivered breath specimen can result from residual alcoholic beverage in the mouth, by the presence of residual vomitus containing alcohol in the mouth, by the regurgitation of stomach contents, or by eructation of gas having a significant component of alcohol.
Morton F. Mason & Kurt M. Dubowski, Breath as a Specimen for Analysis for Ethanol and Other Low-Molecular-Weight Alcohols, Medical-Legal Aspects of Alcohol 177, 180 (James C. Garriott ed., 4th ed. 2003). “Eructation” is defined as “an instance of belching.” Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, (11th ed. 2004).
Defending against DUI / DWIAlcohol in the oral cavity arising from recent alcohol ingestion, regurgitation of stomach contents containing alcohol or by eructation of gas containing sufficient amounts of alcohol can contaminate the breath sample and cause falsely elevated results. Effective DUI / DWI DefenseThe pioneer work by Bogen indicated that hiccuping, burping, and belching might present a problem in connection with breath-alcohol analysis. Only very limited investigations of this problem have been made, but these indicate that the risk of elevating breath-alcohol readings is greatest shortly after the end of drinking as might be expected because the concentration of alcohol in the stomach is then at its highest. Next article: Index: |
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