DRUG TESTING KIT FOR KIDS 'RUINS TRUST'

A NEW home-testing kit that detects drug use through hair samples has
been branded an invasion of privacy by civil liberties and health groups.

One spokesman said the tests would ruin trust between parents and
their children.

HairConfirm, produced by American biotech company Confirm BioSciences
and launched in Australia this month, is marketed to those concerned
their children are using drugs.

Parents who buy the $65 kit can collect a lock of their child's hair
and send it to the US to be analysed for drugs including marijuana,
cocaine, heroin, ecstasy, amphetamine and methamphetamine. The
results, claimed to be 99.9 per cent accurate, are available online
within 48 hours.

Peter Menedis - a consultant to the kit's international distributor,
Instant Drug Testing - said people had a right to know if their child
was using drugs. "The parent is responsible for the child. No parent
wants to see their child descend into addiction. Every parent wants to
be the best parent they can be and they want to do what's best for
their children."

NSW Council for Civil Liberties president Cameron Murphy said such
kits were notoriously inaccurate and called for consumers to be wary.

"All parents worry about their kids and these companies exploit their
fears," he said.

Mr Menedis said the kits had been extremely popular since being
launched in the US 18 months ago. He said testing hair was superior to
urine samples as it could detect use within the past 90 days.

But Australian Drug Foundation director Geoff Munro said testing
children would not resolve substance abuse and could even create
bigger problems. "It's a very bad idea for parents to become
detectives. It's like reading a child's diary, it's violating their
privacy.

"It will destroy trust and once that has gone it's difficult, if not
impossible, to rebuild."

If parents were concerned children may be using drugs, they should
talk to them or seek advice from health professionals, he said.