What methods does a forensic toxicologist use to test blood-alcohol level?
There are two ways of testing an individual for blood-alcohol content. There is a test by breath and there is a test by blood. If the latter is the test of choice, the blood sample will be collected from the individual and sent to the forensic laboratory where it is analyzed by gas chromatography for the presence of alcohol . The gas chromatograph is an instrument that separates the alcohol from other constitutes that may be present in the blood and makes for the identification of alcohol and at the same time quantifies what tells us the amount of alcohol that was present in the blood. So, it is the gas chromatograph that is the key instrument for testing blood for its alcohol content in the toxicology laboratory.