Myth #11: Breath Test — Slope Detectors Protect Against Mouth Alcohol Influencing A Result
Our experience with the Intoxilyzer 5000 has shown that its residual mouth alcohol flagging program (that is, the slope detector) is not entirely reliable under the extreme experimental conditions employed in the present study. In this experiment we were able to obtain apparent BrACs as high as 0.18 g/210 L in spite of this feature. The slope detector was never intended to be a substitute for residual mouth alcohol detection and prevention protocols such as a pretest alcohol deprivation period and requiring agreement within 0.02 g/210 L for successive BrACs taken 2 to 10 min apart.
Defending against DUI / DWIPatrick Harding, et. al., The Effect of Dentures and Denture Adhesives on Mouth Alcohol Retention, 37 Journal of Forensic Science 999, 1006 (July 1992). Translation: according to this author, slope detectors, designed to detect mouth alcohol, don’t work. Next article: Index: |
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