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September 2006
 The Role of Biomarkers in the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorders
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
issued this advisory in light of new evidence that indicates that
urine alcohol tests that are based on the presence of ethyl
glucuronide (EtG) in urine up to 80 hours following drinking are not
able to discriminate between alcohol ingestion and incidental
environmental exposures to alcohol from alcohol-based hand
sanitizers or foods.
SAMHSA warns that because the EtG test lacks sufficient proven specificity
in determining abstinence, it is inappropriate to use a test result
as primary or sole evidence that an individual prohibited from
drinking, in a criminal justice or a regulatory compliance context,
has truly been drinking. Therefore, legal or disciplinary action
based solely on a positive EtG, or other test is inappropriate and
scientifically unsupportable at this time. SAMHSA advises that these
tests should currently be considered as potential valuable clinical
tools, but their use in forensic settings is premature.
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