Hair Alcohol Testing

Overview

Alcohol has recently been classified as the fifth most harmful drug. For the first time ever, there is a non-invasive service to detect excessive consumption of alcohol over a period of time. Unlike traditional methods, alcohol testing in hair can establish dependency for periods of up to six months. As the first company to offer this test commercially, Trimega Laboratories together with its team of researchers and scientists, has developed a system that indicates or rules out alcohol abuse.

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Hair Alcohol Testing explained

Lawyer using Trimega evidence wins Family Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Award 2011, click to read more

For a comprehensive picture of
alcohol abuse
Select Trimega's Gold Standard test (FAEE & EtG) for longer windows of detection

Hair alcohol testing vs. Traditional methods
	Hair Alcohol Testing	Traditional Methods
Window of detection	Up to 6 months	< 4 weeks
Regularity	One-off testing	Regular testing (costly)
Results	False positives are eliminated	Risk of false positives
Re-testing	Possible	Not possible due to short window of detection
Collection	Non-invasive	Invasive
Samples and storage	Tamper proof	Risk of tampering

Trimega Laboratories' standards of Hair Alcohol Testing

Hair Alcohol Testing Gold (FAEE & EtG)

Trimega Laboratories' hair alcohol testing gold standard is achieved by combining both FAEE and EtG tests. This combination assists in mutual confirmation and exclusion of false positive or false negative results*; significantly increasing the accuracy of interpretation. The result is that although contextual information always assists final interpretation, less context is required due to the heightened ability in the achievement of a more definitive result. As the first company to commercialise the FAEE and EtG technology, Trimega Laboratories has the largest database of alcohol testing results in child protection cases.

* Recent concensus of 2011 based on presentation by Trimega Laboratories to the SoHT (international meeting of world-leading experts in Chamonix March 2011). Click here to read concensus in full.

Hair Alcohol Testing Silver (FAEE*)

Trimega Laboratories' FAEE (fatty acid ethyl ester) hair alcohol test is award-winning* and is now clearly distinguishable as the market leader in alcohol dependency analysis. Trimega Laboratories have the world's largest commercial database available of donor alcohol self-reporting information versus results and can now determine if a donor falls into abstinence/moderate or excessive range of alcohol consumption.

Trimega recommends using a combination of both FAEE and EtG tests (gold standard) to assist in mutual confirmation and exclusion of false positive or false negative results.

* Winner of the UK Best Use of Technology Award 2008

Hair Alcohol Testing Bronze (EtG)

EtG (ethyl glucuronide) testing is one of the latest hair alcohol test technologies available, which is provided as a lower cost solution for determination of alcohol abuse covering periods of up to three months. Medical and other contextual information should also be considered.

Trimega recommends using a combination of both FAEE and EtG tests (gold standard) to assist in mutual confirmation and exclusion of false positive or false negative results.

The process: How alcohol is detected

As the hair grows, it absorbs special markers called fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEEs) and ethyl glucuronide (EtG) into its structure. While FAEE gets into the hair mainly by diffusion from an external sebum layer, EtG markers are formed almost exclusively in the liver and then deposited into hair mainly from sweat. The more markers there are, the more alcohol has been consumed.

What makes this analysis revolutionary is that FAEE testing gives a history going back months if required. No other method can do this. For example, testing using blood only provides results covering a period no longer than one month. Once history of alcohol abuse is established using Trimega's latest technique, an alcoholic's treatment can then be monitored periodically.

Who can use this service?

Legal Sector

Hair alcohol tests have been regularly used by the UK legal sector for legal disputes and child care proceeding cases. Prove that a client is fit to have custody of their children. The admissibility of the tests is dependent upon strict sample collection protocols administered by Trimega Laboratories’ trained sample collectors.

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Corporate Sector

The need to use hair alcohol testing within the corporate sector (maritime, insurance, medical and rail sectors) has increased since its introduction by Trimega Laboratories. Increasingly, corporates believe there is a need to regulate their own industry by monitoring employees and ensuring that professionalism within their industry is maintained.

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Forensics

For forensic use, forensic investigators may use this test to determine whether a driver in a road accident was in the habit of overindulging in alcohol. Trimega Laboratories provide expert witnesses if required.

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Why Trimega?

Cost effective: Competitive pricing policy
Meeting deadlines: Results available within 7-10 business days from receipt of sample
Simple fast instruction process
Hassle-free service: Fully co-ordinated sample collection service
FREE sample collection materials
Split-invoicing if requested
Certified to ISO 9001:2008 Quality management systems by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance who are a UKAS-accredited certification body.
Multiple award winning company