New Test Developed for Drug Users

by DUNCAN MANSFIELD Associated Press Writer

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Workers who use mail-order or herbal products to disguise traces of narcotics in standard drug tests could soon find they can no longer get away with it.

Researchers at East Tennessee State University's Quillen School of Medicine in Johnson City have found a screening technique that not only detects ''adulterants'' in urine samples, but identifies them.

This could be the first ''proof positive'' test for these compounds, which federally certified drug testing labs will be required to begin screening for in August, lead researcher Dr. Kenneth Ferslew said.

The test uses a laboratory technique known as capillary ion electrophoresis (CIE) that was initially developed to analyze contaminated wastewater.

As an academic exercise, Ferslew, an East Tennessee State forensic toxicologist specializing in urine analysis, wondered if the technique could be applied to drug testing.

''The more I looked at that the more I thought, 'Well, urine is a water sample and people are dumping salts in it (to beat a drug test). Why couldn't we test a urine specimen?''' he said.

''I didn't develop a new box,'' added Ferslew, who had no outside funding for his research. ''But it is a new application of a technology to a specific problem. In this case, we adapted it to adulterants.''

Millions of drug tests are administered every year for employers.

While adulterants are probably present in only a small number of them, products are readily available to mask drug tests and their users offer the most serious challenge to public health and safety, said Bob Stephenson, director of workplace programs within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The technique developed by East Tennessee State would add another layer of confirmation to employers, he said, and perhaps give pause to drug users trying to mask a test.

''This isn't flunking a drug test, this is flagging yourself as a cheater,'' he said. Drug users ''believe they can go undetected, so they have no fear. They are probably the most dangerous drug user.''

The East Tennessee State procedure requires only a drop of urine, which is sent through a tube or capillary the size of a horse hair and zapped with electricity.

The negatively or positively charged molecules separate over a few minutes. Aided by a computer, scientists can chart their concentration and identify the substances -- notably nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, chloride and chromate, the various signature elements found in compounds intended to fool a drug test.

East Tennessee State reported in May in the Journal of Forensic Sciences that the technology was useful in identifying such products as Urine Luck and KLEAR that disguise illegal drugs with a false negative test result.

While their test was more complicated, it also was more specific than tests that use color strips to indicate the presence of substances that dilute or adulterate urine specimens, the researchers wrote.

''We are trying to develop tests so that when we identify an adulterant, we are absolutely sure what is there and why it is there,'' Ferslew said. ''And that is much stronger in court.''

Delta Air Lines was challenged by its pilots union last year when it tried to fire five employees for failing tests designed to verify if they had substituted their urine samples. The airline has suspended the policy while the Department of Health and Human Services reviews how the tests are conducted and prepares new guidelines for drug testing labs.

Brian Murphy, spokesman for Milford, Mass.-based Waters Corp., which built the CIE machine used by East Tennessee State, was not involved in the research but was impressed with the results.

''It is a pretty unique and novel way of using the technology,'' he said.

Waters Corp. spent 10 years trying to convince the Environmental Protection Agency that the process would work on wastewater. EPA agreed in April.

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001