Trimega Laboratories: Drunk Parents Risk Losing Children in Hair Tests

LONDON -

- With Photo

Divorcing parents who embark on a hedonistic lifestyle are in danger of losing custody of their children thanks to a growing trend in hair test requests to gauge how often they get drunk.

There are already approximately 5,000 ‘hair alcohol tests’ carried out on parents in the UK every year. These are mostly requested by Social Services/Family Law Courts and divorce lawyers to help decide who is granted custody of children. The tests can tell how much a person has drunk over a one to 12 month period - distinguishing between social drinkers and those that abuse alcohol. Alcohol abuse is a broad term used to describe anything from occasional binge-drinking through to the medically-diagnosed ‘alcohol dependent’ (average of 7.5 units or more a day). Over a third of hair samples taken test positive to alcohol dependency with many of those results becoming the deciding factor in a custody ruling.

In a recent study of 1,500 such tests carried out on UK parents by London-based Trimega Laboratories over the past 12 months, 35% of those requested to provide samples were alcohol-dependent - with fathers just ahead of mothers at 38% versus 32%. Regionally, the Welsh returned the highest proportion of positive samples with the West Midlands not far behind, let down by mothers who - at 45% - tip the scales for women throughout England & Wales. See table attached.

Since hair growth is fed by the bloodstream, the ingestion of excess alcohol in the blood is revealed by analysing chemical markers absorbed by the hair. As the hair grows, it absorbs these markers into its structure, which remain in the hair indefinitely. These markers are only produced when there is alcohol in the bloodstream. The more markers there are, the more has been consumed. A tuft of hair about the diameter of a pencil is required and the length of time tested for depends on the length available. If no head hair is available, body hair can be used instead. Samples must be taken by a trained collector and results, which are accepted by all UK courts, are generally available in seven to 10 working days from receipt of the sample.

www.trimegalabs.com

Note to Editors

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Source: Trimega Laboratories Ltd

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