A recent ABC News piece (July 22, 2011 “Fake urine proves a wee problem”) reported on the emerging dilemma for workplace drug testing programs - an increased number of employees ordering fake urine online in attempt to beat the workplace drug testing ‘system’.
Many urine drug kits are now available with built in adulterant tests and temperature strips to confirm that the urine specimen was passed at the time of collection. However at this stage, differentiating between a genuine or a synthetically produced urine sample remains difficult.
Efforts to develop an adulterant which may quickly identify a synthetic urine sample at the time of collection are currently underway.
It is generally accepted that there is less opportunity for adulteration of oral fluid drugs specimens because it is easier to collect these specimens under direct supervision without compromising an individual’s privacy.
Urine drug testing reports on an individual’s drug taking history over a period of a few days, however direct correlation between drug presence and impairment cannot be assumed. Although direct correlation is also an issue with oral fluid drugs testing, given the much smaller window of detection (ie: length of time after consumption whereby the drug may be detected) it is likely an individual is at greater risk of impairment given more recent consumption, and as such, may pose a safety risk for the workplace.
DASA has successfully achieved certification for AS 4760-2006: Procedures for specimen collection and the detection and quantitation of drugs in oral fluid workplace specimen collection and on site initial testing of drugs in oral fluids.
Please contact our Business Development Manager on (02) 8001-2535 for further information on a workplace drug testing program that suits your needs.
Comments