In my experience, as a DUI Attorney in California for 30 years, most law enforcement agencies store and transport blood toxicology specimens at ambient temperature, meaning at “room temperature “. This temperature obviously varies depending on the time of year and location of the collection.
In recent years, a few agencies have started putting blood specimens “in a refrigerator” while they are stored in property/evidence before being sent to the lab, but they often don’t have records to prove it, and they certainly don’t monitor the temperature of the unit (using a calibrated thermometer!). Even the agencies that refrigerate stored blood specimens don’t bother to refrigerate them during transportation to the lab – a process that may take days.
With very few exceptions, forensic laboratories are not responsible for collection or storage of a blood toxicology specimen before it arrives at the lab. Some forensic labs provide blood kits to law enforcement, but even those labs are generally ignorant of the actual collection and storage practices that are used – they can only attest to the condition of the specimen upon receipt by the lab.
Do blood samples need to be refrigerated? In my opinion they do. Every day throughout the country, we manage to refrigerate clinical blood specimens during transportation. And every day, we manage to transport drinking water samples under refrigeration (including samples sent via overnight carriers). It is not unreasonable to expect law enforcement agencies to keep blood that is collected from DUI suspects in a refrigerator prior to delivery to the crime lab. Refrigeration slows down metabolic activities and bacterial growth, ensuring that the samples remain suitable for blood alcohol testing and forensic analysis.
What Do the Scientists say? ANSI/ASB Best Practice Recommendation 156 (Best Practices for Specimen Collection and Preservation for Forensic Toxicology; recommendations say it is best to store blood samples below 8 degrees centigrade or 46 degrees Fahrenheit. For all intents and purposes this requires refrigeration, particularly in the summer months in most parts of California.
Though some experts say the ANSI recommendations is not a standard per se, it is a best practice recommendation. Consensus standards set minimum requirements for labs, but a specimen collection standard is not appropriate for toxicology laboratories, since they are not responsible for collection of specimens. However, since tox labs often serve as the primary scientific resource for the law enforcement agencies that collect toxicology specimens, this Best Practice provides the labs with guidance on generally accepted practices for ensuring that toxicology specimens are properly collected and stored.
DUI Blood Tubes Should Be Stored at Temperatures at or Below 46 Degrees.
This ANSI /ASB document has 2023 standards for preserving the integrity of all types of biological evidence. Blood should be stored at or below 8 degrees C (46 degrees F) prior to testing. Any ANAB accredited lab should be following these mandates. (The ASB is an ANSI-accredited Standards Developing Organization with the purpose of providing accessible, high quality science-based consensus forensic standards.)
At a minimum, if blood tubes are not refrigerated and or mailed or stored at room temperature prior to testing they should contain more preservative.
California Code of Regulations (CCR) Title 17 requires that all blood samples be handled in a manner to ensure the integrity of the sample. Article 4 section 1219 states:
“Samples taken for forensic alcohol analysis shall be collected and handled in a manner in which the identity and integrity of the samples shall be maintained through collection to analysis and reporting” (1219, Title 17)
For all intents and purposes, if the temperature of the collected blood test was not stored properly, the integrity of the sample has not been maintained and constitutes a violation of Title 17 of the CCR.
If a blood vial is collected from a subject in the summer months in many parts of Southern California it is not uncommon for temperatures to exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day.
One scientific study (Blume) found significant blood alcohol production through fermentation in an unrefrigerated sample after only 22 hours. Another study (Chang) also found that refrigeration was critical to preventing contamination of the sample due to fermentation.
The argument can be summarized as follows: If the sample is left in an unrefrigerated environment for long periods of time the integrity of that biological sample is seriously called into question. Would you trust a container of milk which was left out of a refrigerator for a day or more? Certainly a biological sample of someone’s blood should be handled at least as carefully as a container of milk.
How can a case be thrown out? Recently DUI Attorney Matthew Ruff won a case involving a blood test sample of .15 by showing the integrity of the blood sample was compromised. The case involved documentary evidence showing the chain of custody was not well established and the sample was not tested for over a month after it was collected. No evidence was presented to show it was stored in a refrigerated environment. Matthew cited California Code of Regulations, Title 17 section 1219 as the authority to suppress the test. Result: Los Angeles DUI Dropped due to contaminated evidence.
If you would like a copy of the motion that Matt used in his case to get the blood suppressed, contact the Torrance DUI Attorney directly.
