Society of Hair Testing research based on data provided by Trimega Laboratories, has confirmed that dual testing on hair for alcohol misuse provides accuracy rates of over 94 per cent.

In support of advancing hair alcohol testing usage in child protection, Trimega’s data set of approximately 2,000 samples, the largest of its kind in the world, was used for interpretation for both types of test.

Fritz Pragst and Silke Suesse, two of the leading pioneers in testing hair for substance misuse, presented their findings on the practical applications of ethyl glucuronide and fatty acid ethyl esters for the detection of chronic alcohol abuse in forensic cases to attendees of the 16th annual symposium of the SoHT in Chamonix, France.

Other conclusions from the research show that the combined use of FAEE and EtG, already recommended by the SoHT as best practice, avoids incorrect interpretations caused by hair cosmetics since both methods are sensitive to different treatments. However, it was also stressed that hair testing should not be the single determining factor in cases of substance misuse. It should always be used as part of the overall evidential picture.

“In the last few years, Professor Pragst said, hair analysis for alcohol markers has become an important diagnostic tool in forensic and clinical cases.Prof.Pragst and Dr Suesse, Director of Trimega’s Drogencheck GmbH laboratory in Germany, along with seven other experts in the field, used Trimega’s data to test the limits and possible pitfalls of these markers when testing for chronic excessive alcohol consumption.

As hair grows, it absorbs FAEEs and EtG into its structure. While FAEE markers get into the hair mainly by diffusion from an external sebum layer, EtG markers are formed almost exclusively in the liver and are then deposited into hair mainly from sweat.

The more markers there are, the more alcohol has been consumed.