HAIR, SALIVA, SWEAT COULD BE USED IN GOVERNMENT WORKER DRUG TESTS

WASHINGTON - The hair, saliva and sweat of federal workers could be tested
for drug use under a government policy proposed Tuesday that could set
screening standards for millions of private employers.

The proposal will expand the methods to detect drug use among 1.6 million
federal workers beyond urine samples. It is being implemented with an eye
toward the private sector, however, because it would signal the government's
approval for such testing, which many companies are awaiting before adopting
their own screening programs.

The rule is subject to a 90-day public comment period. A final plan could be
issued by year's end.

"What we think is going to happen with the introduction of alternative
specimens is, it's going to make it much tougher for individuals to be able
to adequately prepare and to avoid detection," said Robert Stephenson,
director of the workplace programs division in the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration.

However, the number of federal workers that attempt to defraud tests already
is "virtually zero," Stephenson said. The positive rate for federal workers
has fallen to less than 0.5 percent, from 18 percent early in the program,
which began in 1986 when President Reagan issued an executive order
declaring that the federal work force must be drug-free.

"We expect other interested parties to use the same standards and benefit
from the quality assurance procedures and certification of laboratories and
products that we are in fact putting out there for federal employees,"
Stephenson said. "We understand that it is a broader mission."

The Drug and Alcohol Testing Industry Association, with about 1,200 members,
has lobbied for the regulations since the mid-1990s, said Laura Shelton,
executive director of the Alexandria, Va.-based group. The rules are
expected to be a boon to the industry.

"It will greatly increase the use of them," Shelton said, speaking of the
alternative tests. "A lot of employers have been sitting in the back saying,
'Well, these aren't approved for federal testing, so maybe something is not
quite right' - even though there are studies out there showing they are
effective."

A survey by the American Management Association found that drug testing by
employers is declining. About 68 percent of the companies responding to a
2001 survey said they conducted medical testing, down from 77 percent in
1998.

Tests can cost $20 to $50, with hair testing being the most expensive,
Shelton said. Saliva and sweat tests cost only slightly more than urine
tests.

Uniform standards for drug testing has been "sorely lacking," said Los
Angeles lawyer Anthony Oncidi, a partner in the labor and employment
practice group of Proskauer Rose LLP.

The ease and accuracy of such tests, combined with the legal basis the
government standards could provide employers who might be sued by workers,
should expand the use of alternative testing, he said.

It would be "harder to poke a hole in it," Oncidi said. "To the extent that
it's been accepted on the federal level for government workers, that's a
pretty good endorsement."

Saliva testing, done using a swab that looks much like a toothbrush but with
a pad instead of bristles, is best at detecting drug use within the past one
or two days, experts said.

Hair testing, in which a sample about the thickness of a shoelace is clipped
at the root from the back of the head, allows detection of many drugs used
as far back as 3 months.

Sweat testing, in which workers are fitted with a patch that is worn for two
weeks, is used to screen people who have returned to work after drug
treatment.