"The Use of Adulterants in Urine Drug Testing"

As urine drug testing has become a fixture in the employment of millions of people in the United States and the world as a whole many substances have been found to cause the drug test result to be negative when it would be positive in the absence of the substance.

The mini-industry of the production, marketing and sale of these substances has caused the drug testing industry to develop the means to detect the presence of these moeties and in some cases to identify them.

Although it is possible to identify almost all of the adulterants, in most cases it is not necessary to pursue the identity.

There are several categories of materials which can be used to interfere with a drug test. These categories include diluents, oxidizing chemicals, denaturing substances, interferants, masking agents and urine substitutes.

While a total number of these materials is not available, there are at least 50 individual materials that can be used in the attempt to cause an otherwise positive urine sample to appear negative. The number of substances is increasing daily as the market is open for the development of these materials.

The claims of the suppliers are dubious and overstated and often offer money back guarantees.

For any laboratory performing urine drug analyses a portfolio of techniques must be available in the standard operating procedures that can be used to identify the presence of exogenous and endogenous substances submitted in "urine" samples.

The National Laboratory Certification Program (NLCP) has provided two guidance documents (PD 035 and PD 037) to all federally certified laboratories. These documents address the identification of adulterants and how these are to be reported. The NLCP does not require any specific tests be performed but provides guidance how results be reported if suspected and if adulterant testing is performed, the methods used must conform to acceptable forensic standards.

The Department of Transportation (D.O.T.) is in the process of developing rules that will require some specific tests to identify some adulterants. These are likely to be creatinine, specific gravity and pH.

One Source Toxicology does comply with the NLCP guidance documents and does perform the creatinine, specific gravity and pH analyses at this time.

While the idea of identifying many adulterants is intriguing, the practical application would be extremely costly and time consuming. It is simply not possible to test for every adulterant. The formulas change and new adulterants are introduced almost daily.

Key Benefits

Proof of integrity of sample provided by applicant or employee.

Determines if any possible drug test interferant is present.

When comprehensive adulterant, interferant or dilutent testing program is explained to employee base, the chances of having continued efforts to by-pass the testing procedure is reduced and reducing potential liability means lower workers compensation rates and lower insurance claims.