FLIGHT ATTENDANT GETS $400,000

PORTLAND, Ore. -- A jury awarded a fired flight attendant $400,000 from the
drug-testing laboratory that incorrectly determined she had cheated on a
drug test. Yasuko Ishikawa, 40, was fired by Delta Air Lines in 1999 after
a routine drug test showed her urine sample had been tampered with. The
test looks for creatinine, a metabolite found in human urine; if a sample
has too little creatinine, then it is deemed to be a substitution or
watered down.

Ishikawa insisted she never took drugs and didn't alter the sample. A
separate test showed it was valid and no drugs were present.

On Tuesday, a Portland jury found Lenexa, Kan.-based Lab One was negligent
in conducting the validity test.

Federal law requires that millions of transportation workers be tested each
year in the name of public safety.

Last year, a review by the Department of Health and Human Services found
some labs had not followed government standards in conducting the validity
tests. The government ordered the results of Ishikawa's test and 82 others
that Lab One conducted, among about 300 in all, be thrown out.

Delta has offered to reinstate employees dismissed because of faulty tests;
Ishikawa has been back on the job since June 1.