Comment from Maine Bureau of Highway Safety
AnonymousOtherIndividual
Summary: The commenter identifies several logistical and systemic barriers to submitting toxicology data, including BAA restrictions on equipment, staffing shortages, and the difficulty of validating comprehensive testing panels. They do not explicitly state a position for or against the proposed action, but rather provide a list of challenges related to the topic.
There are a number of barriers and challenges associated with acquiring and submitting toxicology data. 1. The acquisition of toxicology equipment is a challenge given the BAA restrictions. Most of the equipment/parts are not made or manufactured in the USA, yet the need for instrumentation to allow for faster and more comprehensive testing, (especially of postmortem samples when generally testing stops at BAC due to the cost of testing for further drugs), is desperately needed. 2. Laboratory staffing shortages and 3. Lack of forensic phlebotomists are a barrier to getting the samples and testing the samples. 4. The more comprehensive the testing standards become, the more challenging it is to validate panels.