New chemical forensics test could help track down terrorists responsible for nerve gas attacks.
High-Throughput Blood Alcohol Analysis Determination Using Headspace Gas Chromatography
Combining a GC instrument with a headspace autosampler has been proven to offer a reliable tool for the analysis of alcohol in blood.
Cracking Bath Salt Composition
This article will provide examples of the use of Direct Deposition GC-FTIR technology in the forensics environment, including demonstration of the Direct Deposition GC-FTIR instrument’s ability to deal with large volumes of samples, while highlighting the specificity of the technology by differentiating typical street drug isomers.
Seized Drug Analysis Using FT-IR and Mixture Searching For More Effective Identification
Modern FT-IR systems provide rapid analysis of samples with very little effort, putting the technique on par with the dilute and shoot simplicity of the GC/MS.
How To Extrapolate Alcohol With Certainty
The courts have recently decided that single numerical values for blood and breath test results without a measure of uncertainty are inadmissible as they preclude objective interpretation.
This article will discuss regulatory guidelines that have been developed for the analysis of cocaine and will present a new GC-MS method for the confirmation and quantitation of cocaine and its major metabolites in a human urine matrix.
Identification of Synthetic Cannabinoids in Herbal Incense Blends
An effective and easy-to-replicate approach to the identification of synthetic cannabinoids in herbal incense blends by Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS).
Effectively Detect Drugs In Urine
Advanced TOF-MS technology enables fast, sensitive, and reliable detection of drugs of abuse in urine.
Design Guidelines for Toxicology Laboratories
This article will provide design guidelines for toxicology laboratories that provide you with ideas on how you might better renovate your existing toxicology spaces or plan for these labs in a new space.
Using an MRM method on a GC-triple quadrupole MS to confirm and quantitate THC in oral fluid is an effective alternative to blood and urine samples.
Propofol: An Analytical and Medico-Legal Challenge
Although analysis for the detection of propofol follows standard procedures, the toxicological and medico-legal determination of the contribution of propofol to a fatality is often complicated by wide variability of propofol plasma concentrations and the concomitant abuse of other drugs.
Polonium-210 and The Assassination of Alexander Litvinenko
A highly active alpha particle emitter, Polonium-210 is a fatal toxin, even at very small doses.
Alcohol In the 21st Century: New Standards, New Technology
New technology can reduce calculation times when determining the degree of uncertainty in blood alcohol concentration estimations.
Change Is in the Air: Safety and Design of Toxicology Laboratories
The proper design of a toxicology lab is more than process and people. There are significant strategies to consider in the design.
Deadly Delicious—Mushroom Poisoning
There has been an increase over the last few decades in foraging for wild mushrooms as ingredients for gourmet meals. This practice has however not surprisingly come with a high price, an increase in mushroom poisoning (mycetism) cases.
Methamphetamine: Getting to its Roots
A look at how the separation and identification of pseudoephedrine from illegal drug mixtures can help to identify the sources and the manufacturing pathway of methamphetamine seized in the illicit market.
Forensic Toxicology in the Fore...and Aft
While the technology available to the forensic toxicologist is far superior to that of 170 years ago, the analytical challenges remain the same.
Ricin on the Rise: Are we prepared?
Nature has created some of the deadliest poisons ranging from botulinum neurotoxin and anthrax to ricin. In the fall of 2001, anthrax spores were discovered in the U.S. mail and ultimately resulted in the deaths of five people.
Forensic Technology Widens Net for Drugs of Abuse: The Rise of LC/MS/MS for Toxicology Testing
Everyone outside the toxicology field seems to believe the forensic toxicology laboratory can identify any drug or compound of interest with a simple push of a button.
Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) Spectroscopy for the Identification of Explosives
Ion Mobility Spectroscopy is routinely used to detect trace explosive residues at security checkpoints, but FTIR is better suited to handle the types of samples that enter a forensic laboratory.
Distinguishing the Good and the Bad from the Ugly with GC and FT-IR
The class of drugs similar to ephedrine, for instance, includes methamphetamine and pseudoephedrine, one a controlled drug, the other an over-the-counter decongestant. The subtle differences make the need for a rapid, structurally sensitive method of analysis an imperative for effective drug law enforcement.
Criminal foul play and medical malpractice often go undiscovered unless post-exhumation autopsy is performed. Declining autopsy rates is the likely culprit.
