1. 6-2 – About Alcohol
Unit 6: Toxicology
April 22, 2015
Sanders

2. Forensic Toxicologist
Forensic toxicologists look for and identify drugs and poisons.
Bodily fluids
Tissues
Organs
They look into this in matters that pertain to violations of criminal laws.
Unit 6: Toxicology

3. Blood Alcohol Level
Maximum alcohol level is reached in the blood when all of the alcohol has been absorbed.
Ethyl alcohol absorption can be retarded by a full gastro-intestinal tract, but it is not diminished overall.
Absorption occurs especially rapidly from beverages that are sweet, warm (e.g., grog), or carbonated (e.g., champagne). Since alcohol concentration in exhaled air is proportional to that in the bloodstream, simple breath tests make it possible to establish reliable blood-alcohol values.
Unit 6: Toxicology

4. Postabsorption
The alcohol concentration slowly decreases until a zero level is reached during post-absorption.
Unit 6: Toxicology

5. Excretion Alcohol is excreted unchanged from the body.
Breath
Urine
Perspiration
The ratio of alcohol in the breath is equal to alcohol in the blood.
Unit 6: Toxicology

6. Breath Testing Devices
Breathalyzers operate on the principal that the ratio between that concentration of alcohol in alveolar breath and its concentration in blood is fixed.
Unit 6: Toxicology