shocked in minnesota wrote:Hi,I just got fired from my job because i had a positive etg.I have been sober and in the program for 17 months. What can I do about this? Anyone else going thru this?
Shocked,
Nothing ever surprises me anymore, especially when it comes to recovery related issues. Far too many people in a position of power have no idea what they're doing. The following is from an advisory to the Alabama Medical community:
Date: August 15, 2005
Memo
To: Regulatory Board Staff or Members
From: Gregory E. Skipper, MD, Fellow, American Society of Addiction Medicine, and Consultant to the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners
Re: Ethylglucuronide Advisory
Ethylglucuronide, EtG, testing is being increasingly utilized along with standard urine drug testing to detect alcohol use in licensees who have signed abstinence agreements. My associates in Europe and I have been involved in recognizing the potential of EtG testing, studying the efficacy of the test, and publishing our findings regarding EtG testing.¹
The following updated advisory has been developed in response to questions from monitoring programs and regulatory boards regarding EtG testing:
1) No laboratory test is 100% accurate. Clinical correlation is always important.
2) Some individuals appear to produce more EtG for a given exposure to ethanol than others. This is probably associated with a known genetic polymorphism in the human UDP-glucuronyl transferase enzyme system. The exact limits of this variation are not known.
3) A positive EtG is not necessarily proof of intentional alcoholic beverage consumption. Low level positive tests are known to occur due to incidental exposure. The cutoff for possible incidental exposure vs. intentional use has not been accurately established, due to many factors including; amount of
"incidental" exposure, individual metabolism, hydration, kidney function, etc...
For the above reasons it is advisable, whenever possible, to refrain from taking action against an employee or licensee based on urine EtG testing alone. When a positive EtG test is reported, if alcohol use is denied, we encourage the use of clinical evaluation by a Medical Review Officer and Addiction Medicine specialists to more fully assess the meaning of a positive test. We encourage Boards, Courts, and/or Employers to include expert opinion involving thorough clinical evaluation to help interpret positive test results.
Please feel free to contact me for additional information. Go to my web site for contact information.
