SCIENTIST ADMITS SHE GAVE WRONG DRUG TEST EVIDENCE

A Government scientist promoting workplace drug testing said yesterday that
she inadvertently exaggerated evidence to the Employment Court in a
landmark case involving Air New Zealand. Dr Susan Nolan, client development
manager for the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR),
testified to the court in Auckland on Friday that drugs were found in 22
per cent of urine samples of workers tested randomly at about 50 other firms.

She repeated the figure under cross-examination by unions lawyer John
Haigh, QC, and to a query from the Herald after a four-day hearing which
has been adjourned until December.

But yesterday, after other media relayed the figure, she confirmed that it
was incorrect and that the true strike for drugs found in two years of
testing at the firms in question was 9 per cent.

Dr Nolan said she deeply regretted the mix-up, which appeared to have been
caused by a copying error, and would ask Air New Zealand's lawyer to set
the record straight with the court.

An airline spokesman said he was investigating the matter and would
certainly draw it to the court's attention "if it needs correcting".

Engineering union secretary Andrew Little said the six unions challenging
the airline's plans to introduce random and other drug and alcohol testing
for all 10,000 of its staff accepted the error was unintentional, but were
concerned about the false impression it created.