Forensic Toxicology

Telephone: 0141 330 4574

The Forensic Toxicology Service has been developed over the past 50 years into one of the largest service providers of its kind in Western Europe. In 2006, a 7-year contract was awarded by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in Edinburgh to provide a post mortem forensic toxicology service for the West of Scotland Area. Other customers of the laboratory are the Procurators Fiscal in other regions and the Police Forces in Scotland.

Independent analysis of specimens on behalf of defence solicitors is also provided. These most often arise under:

• Road Traffic Act
• Prisons (Mandatory Drug Testing) Act
• Misuse of Drugs Act.

Taking into account the Service Contract and other work, approximately 1500 cases are processed every year.

The toxicological investigations that are carried out often include the analysis of drugs and poisons in sudden and unexpected deaths, but biological specimens are also accepted from cases involving living persons, such as driving under the influence of drugs, suspected drug-assisted assault, employment screening and drug testing in prison. All toxicology work is available for presentation in Court and is of the highest standard. The academic and research staff who provide the service have extensive experience and have both national and international profiles in the field. Technical assistants carry out most routine operations in the laboratory under direct supervision by the toxicologists and have been individually trained on the methods used.

The Forensic Toxicology service is run from custom-designed laboratories located in the ground floor of the Joseph Black Chemistry/Life Sciences building. Access to these premises is restricted in order to maintain security of evidential material and confidentiality of results.

The laboratories are well equipped with modern instrumentation, all maintained by service contracts. There are more than 25 instruments, providing a range of chromatographic and immunological techniques, including:

• HPLC
• GC
• GC-MS
• LC-MS
• LC-MS-MS
• ELISA
• CO-Oximetry

All methods have been validated to meet the service analytical requirements. All methods used are quantitative: cut-off values are not employed or allowed in legal work. All results are recorded on an in-house computer database from which reports are generated.