SHEFFIELD, England, Sept. 17 (UPI) -- A report in the British Medical Journal says that the toxicology of the living may not be a reliable guide for forensic evidence taken from the dead.
A. Robert Forrest, professor of forensic toxicology at the University of Sheffield, suggests that scientists do not completely understand how changes that occur with the dead affect drug levels found in blood. He believes that scientific evidence is often used in court with too much certainty, causing possible miscarriages of justice.
As one example, Forrest cites the death of weapons expert David Kelly, who died in an apparent suicide during an investigation of leaks to the BBC. Forrest said that differing interpretations of the forensic evidence have led to conspiracy theories.
Forrest said that scientists are unsure how the halt in blood circulation affects drug levels and are unable to account for the effect of previous drug use in dead subjects.
