TANCZOS LAYS COMPLAINT OVER DRUG-TESTING KIT

Green MP Nandor Tanczos has laid a complaint with the Commerce Commission
against the distributors of a home drug test kit, alleging they are making
false claims about the product.

Called DrugCheck5, the kit is marketed by "drug prevention company" Prove
It as a means of giving parents a way to find out whether their children
are using drugs.

It went on sale yesterday.

Prove It claimed on its website that its product was 100 per cent accurate,
Mr Tanczos said.

"These claims are inaccurate, misleading and dangerous," he said.

"Parents might rely on these tests to punish their children for something
they haven't done.

"To claim a drug test is 100 per cent accurate is just wrong. Even if the
tests were 99 per cent accurate, that is still one family out of 100 that
may be badly damaged as a result of a false positive reading."

He had sought advice from the Institute of Environmental Science and
Research, he said.

"Similar tests ... are proven to produce false positives four to 34 per
cent of the time," he said.

Prove It managing director Nicky Doherty has said the kit worked on a urine
test.

It took five minutes to give indications on marijuana, cocaine, amphetamine
and methamphetamine, and opiates heroin and morphine.

Such testing was "huge" in the United States, she said.

The kit was mainly being targeted at parents of 13 to 17-year-olds.