Validity Testing

With the increase acceptance of workplace drug testing, many donors have tried to "Beat" the drug test by using a variety of products available on the market. These products range from solutions for the donors to drink, to adding compounds into their urine specimens after they have voided, to substituting the specimen with other fluids or even obtain negative urine from friends or vendors. Many of these products try to affect the initial screen in hopes that the reagent will produce a negative or below the cutoff result. Others have little affect on the initial screen but interfere in some way with the confirmation test in hopes that a forensically defendable result will not be obtained.

The National Laboratory Certification Program which gives oversight to SAMHSA certification has taken a strong and active roll in specimen validity testing. Each laboratory must determine whether a donor has submitted a valid specimen by identifying the following:

Adulterated: the specimen either contains a substance that is not a normal constituent of human urine or contains an endogenous substance at a concentration that is not a normal physiological concentration.

Substituted: test results document that the specimen does not exhibit the characteristics of normal human urine (i.e., it could not have been provided by the donor).

Dilute: specific gravity and creatinine values are below the lower limits for normal human urine, as established by the program. Donors may deliberately dilute specimens by consuming large amounts of water or other liquid or by adding liquid to their urine specimens.

TVL provides validity testing on every specimen tested. With the current amount of products available, and the new ones hitting the shelves each week, TVLToxicology is working hard to identify each donor as they try to beat their drug test.
Pathology Associates Medical Laboratories is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and licensed by the State of Washington Department of Health as a Medical Test Site to comply with HCFA and CLIA ’88 rules. TVL’s Toxicology Department is certified by both the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMHSA) and CAP- Forensic Urine Drug Testing (FUDT).