Abstract
Hand-held breath alcohol analyzers are widely used by police in traffic stops of drivers suspected of driving while intoxicated (DWI). E85 is a motor fuel consisting of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline or other hydrocarbons, and is available at nearly 2,600 stations in the USA. We sought to determine whether handling E85 fuel could produce measurable breath alcohol results using a hand-held analyzer and to see if this would be a plausible explanation for a positive breath alcohol test. Five healthy adult subjects dispensed or transferred 8 US gallons of E85 fuel in each of four scenarios. We measured breath alcoholconcentration in g/210 L of exhaled breath using the BACTrack S50 at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15 and 20 min after each fuel-handling scenario. Most of the subjects had no detectable breath alcohol after handling E85 motor fuel. Transient elevations (0.02-0.04 g/210 L) in breath alcohol measurement occurred up to 6 min after handling E85 in a minority of subjects. We conclude that it is unlikely that handling E85 motor fuel would result in erroneous prosecution for DWI.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 430-432 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Journal of Analytical Toxicology |
Volume | 37 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2013 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Analytical Chemistry
- Environmental Chemistry
- Toxicology
- Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
- Chemical Health and Safety