Since the advent of energy drinks in the U.S. marketplace, some
defendants have claimed that positive breath alcohol test results
have occurred due to the ingestion of non-alcoholic energy drinks.
A variety of energy drinks were tested by gas chromatography and
some 88.9% (24 of 27) were found to contain low concentrations
of ethanol (5–230 mg/dL). Drinks were then consumed (24.6–32
oz) by volunteers to determine the extent of reaction that could be
achieved on a portable breath-testing instrument. Eleven of 27
(40.7%) beverages gave positive results on a portable breathtesting
instrument (0.006–0.015 g/210 L) when samples were
taken within 1 min of the end of drinking. All tests taken by
portable breath test, DataMaster, and Intox EC/IR II at least 15 min
after the end of drinking resulted in alcohol-free readings (0.000
g/210 L). Affording subjects a minimum 15-min observation period
prior to breath-alcohol testing eliminates the possibility that a
small false-positive alcohol reading will be obtained.
Introduction
The potential of alcohol absorbed inside the mouth to affect
the accuracy of a breath alcohol test has been known since the
advent of breath alcohol testing. Although large concentrations
of mouth alcohol are normally due to the oral consumption of
an alcoholic beverage, ethanol can also be absorbed in the oral
cavity from a number of other sources, such as alcohol-containing
mouthwashes, breath sprays, and aerosol medications
(1,2). Mouth alcohol has been shown to normally disappear
within 15–20 min on a non-drinking subject, and it drops to insignificant
levels in a shorter period on drinking subjects (3–5).
For this reason, an observation period is usually mandated to
allow for the dispersion of alcohol in the oral cavity prior to a
breath alcohol test being performed. Although there has been
speculation on the ability of significant alcohol concentrations
to be retained for even longer timeframes in the oral cavity due
to the presence of foreign objects such as oral piercings, chewing
tobacco, and gum, these claims have been proven false (6–8).