I am a healthcare professional who is in a diversion program. I check in daily online for possible testing of urine for drugs or alcohol. I want to take a non-narcotic herbal tincture that is only available in 51% grain alcohol solution. The directions for use are '30 to 60 gtts,TID'. Will this amount of ETOH cause me to test positive for ETG? Thank you in advance for your consideration in providing feedback.

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Originally Posted by smallesme

I am a healthcare professional who is in a diversion program. I check in daily online for possible testing of urine for drugs or alcohol. I want to take a non-narcotic herbal tincture that is only available in 51% grain alcohol solution. The directions for use are '30 to 60 gtts,TID'. Will this amount of ETOH cause me to test positive for ETG? Thank you in advance for your consideration in providing feedback.

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1) Even this small amount could, and probably would, result in EtG sythesis, but 2) the small amount of EtG synthesized would probably be short-lived and eliminated in less than 24 hours.

Thierauf, A 2009 Tested very small amounts of alcohol (1 g), used 31 volunteers.
Musshoff, F 2010 Tested the small amount of alcohol present in many foods, using 5 volunteers. Ingested EtOH.

The problem with placing reliance on studies of EtG elimination is that 1) such studies have used very small and often unrepresentative populations, and 2) the looming "X factor" is the individual rate of EtG synthesis and elimination. Unknown!

What we do know is that the inter-individual variability is huge.

Hope this provides some guidance, however there is no definitive answer that can be offered with confidence.

Thank you for your input. I am not drinking, but as is true of many people, find the ETG test frightening!

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Originally Posted by smallesme

Thank you for your input. I am not drinking, but as is true of many people, find the ETG test frightening!

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You have every reason to be frightened of this test. Thousands of people, particularly in the health care (licensed professions) are falsely accused each year.

Beyond the chance of false positives from environmental alcohol contamination it has been known for some time that urine samples, post collection, are unstable, often increasing in EtG content or having EtG disappear from the sample.

Continued reliance on this test for detection of alcohol consumption is scientifically indefensible.

It certainly behooves you to read as much as possible, to understand how the test is flawed. How to protect yourself. A good starting point is Greg Skipper's site, Ethylglucuronide.

If you have any further questions or concerns, just ask.

I take herpal tinatures for fertility and liver fuction. Thet are both in grain alcohol. Will they cause me to test positive for alcohol?