Judging by the comments on this thread, is it any wonder pilots still have problems knowing EXACTLY what the limits are in different countries? The only guidance we are given in Big Airways is Flying Crew Orders (JAROPS 1), which was only changed a couple of years ago . It now states "there should be NO residual alcohol in the bloodstream when reporting for duty. Nothing about 0.2 or 0.002 or even 0.00000000000002. It says NO. This is something some of us have been unhappy about for a while now. Why not give more guidance? Why not a list of state requirements for each destination we fly to ?
What I suspect is that if breath tests were taken of every person in a safety critical job tomorrow, that a sizeable percentage would fail the ZERO alcohol level in the bloodtream test, whether through mouthwashes, diet ,naturally occuring ketones/alcohol levels or a glass of wine drunk more than 8 hours before work. I also suspect that if all of these people were checked regularly, there would rapidly be a shortage of people wanting to do these jobs. After all, we go to work to earn money to live? Not the other way around....