More Companies Switching to Hair Testing December 17, 2003
News Summary
More large companies are switching from urine tests to hair samples to check employees for drug use, the Boston Globe reported Dec. 15.Last year, Kraft Foods of Illinois switched to hair testing. "We felt the hair test was a much better testing methodology," said Kraft Foods spokeswoman Kathy Kanuth.
The Boston Police Department also made the change, and the federal government is considering a revision of its regulations and procedures to allow for hair and other alternative testing methods.
The increase in the number of small businesses that are selling products that help workers beat urine tests may be behind the switch to hair testing.
"We're adding between 250 and 270 clients per year. Over the last three years, we added 800 clients and the majority of them were employers who wanted to switch from urine to hair testing," said Ray Kubacki, president and chief executive of Psychemedics, which analyzes hair samples for drugs.
According to the American Management Association, 67 percent of U.S. companies conduct drug tests. Of that number, 20 percent test hair and urine, 30 percent test saliva, and the rest test urine only.
Critics of hair testing say it raises privacy and legal concerns. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) said hair testing on African-Americans and pregnant women could cause a false positive result.
In addition, entrepreneur Dennis Catalano, co-founder of Puck Technology, said that a hair test brings up privacy issues because, "there are hundreds of things besides drugs that can be deduced from hair testing information, including genetic information, health information, or any use of psychotropic drugs for mental illness." Catalano's company helps people beat drug tests.
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