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Know About Alcohol Saliva Test

drugtest — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:25:18 +0000

The fact that nearly half of the automobile and industrial accidents are associated with alcohol abuse in the United States stresses the need to check alcohol abuse at all levels. Alcohol saliva test is one of the common methods used at schools, businesses, and safety sensitive works to test the suspects of alcohol abuse. The most important advantages of alcohol saliva test are easy sample collection and quick results.

Applications of Alcohol Saliva Test:

Alcohol saliva tests are used at various locations and situations to test the alcohol levels in a suspect.

•   Schools: Saliva alcohol tests are preferred in schools as the samples cannot be adulterated and can be collected easily.

•   Businesses: Many employers in United States use random alcohol testing. Employee dignity is a question that is often raised while drug testing at workplace. Alcohol saliva test enables random alcohol tests, which are non invasive and give instant results.

•   Safety Sensitive Works: US Department of Transportation (DOT) approved alcohol saliva test as effective testing method that is required for testing of all transportation and safety sensitive employees.

Advantages of Alcohol Saliva Test:

Alcohol Saliva Test has many advantages such as,

•   Convenient: These tests are simple to use anywhere and at anytime. They work in a clean, non-invasive manner, so this test is considered as the simplest method to detect alcohol levels in the body.

•   Quick & Economical: When compared to other alcohol testing methods, it is time and cost efficient. These tests provide results within minutes.

•   No Adulteration: Saliva tests are very difficult to adulterate, as the samples can be obtained under direct supervision.

•   Employee Dignity: The collection of samples is donor friendly, dignified, secured, and less embarrassing when compared to other tests such as urine or hair tests.

•   Accurate: As the ratio of alcohol content in saliva and blood is 1:1, this method is as accurate as blood and urine drug tests.

•   Recent Drug Abuse: These tests detect the recent alcohol drug abuse.

Over consumption and abuse of alcohol has led society to many problems. In order to deter alcohol abusers, many schools and employers are using alcohol tests. Of them, Alcohol Saliva Test is a good tool in maintaining a drug free and safe environment.

Saliva/oral Drug Testing – a Solution to Corporate Drug Testing

drugtest — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 09:43:37 +0000

The fact that America consumes 60% of the world’s illicit drugs (Drug Enforcement Administration) makes employee drug testing compulsory for the US companies to maintain the work standards. Drug testing to the employees is an issue to many of the organizations as it involves many issues such as privacy, sample adulteration, complexity, time and cost involved in drug testing. Saliva drug testing is an ideal solution for these problems making corporate drug testing easier and efficient.

A major concern of drug testing at workplace is the privacy of the candidate. Using saliva drug testing sample collection is less hazardous and less embarrassing for the parties. Oral fluid drug testing is socially acceptable and is not degrading unlike urine drug testing. There is no need for privacy during sample collection. Saliva drug test is considered as donor friendly, as it has easy to collect specimen procedure.

Another issue in corporate drug testing is the cost involved in the entire process. Sample collection through the regular urine based drug testing techniques, sending them to the laboratory and getting results is quite expensive which is not affordable to small organizations. Saliva drug testing makes it cost effective by simplifying the process through uncomplicated sample collection, onsite testing and instant results.

Most of the organizations depend on age old Urine drug testing process, which is subject to adulteration and substitution, and it does not include screening for prescription painkillers. Oral fluid-based testing cannot be cheated because specimen collection is directly monitored, which makes it more efficient when compared to urine drug testing.

Industry experts consider implementing random drug testing as the most effective method to deter on-the-job drug abuse. Urine drug testing does not support random testing as both the parties are uncomfortable with the complex process. Oral fluid drug testing enables the employers to conduct random drug testing with ease in no time.

According to DEA, each year, the costs to U.S. employers exceed $140 billion, as 77% of all drug abusers are employed, and eight to ten percent of workers in any company abuse drugs. On average, each drug abuser costs a corporation $10,000 per year. These statistics sense the urgency of efficient organizational drug testing that could be possible by oral fluid drug testing. This is because it can be used in all the cases of pre-employment, random, reasonable suspicion, post-accident, return-to-duty drug testing, which are necessary to an organization to deter drug abuse at the work place.

Comparison of Hair Drug Testing With Saliva Drug Testing

drugtest — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:36:36 +0000

An examination of specimen to detect specific drug presence or to determine prior drug abuse is known as drug test. Several methods have been developed to trace drug presence. Among those Hair and Saliva drug testing methods have emerged rapidly and accepted widely throughout the world.

Characteristics Of Hair Drug Testing And Saliva Drug Testing

Hair drug testing method is usually preferred in forensic studies due to its highly accurate results and many organizations use hair drug testing to find drug abuse for longer periods. Saliva drug testing is used in businesses, schools and in sports as results can be obtained immediately and due to its portability.

Hair drug testing and Saliva drug testing methods, both are donor friendly and difficult to adulterate. However, they have specific characteristics in respect of applications of usage.

• Easiness:

- The procedure followed to test drug presence using hair drug testing is easy. It is required to collect some hair samples and to send to a lab for testing.

- Saliva drug testing is easy to use and test can be conducted at the site of specimen collection.

• Duration For Drug Detection:

- Using Hair Drug Testing method, drug presence can be detected even after 90 days from the time of abuse. This test is widely accepted due to its effectiveness in results.

- Saliva drug testing is considered as an effective method to determine recent drug abuse and the duration of detection is 1-2 days from the time of abuse. Effectiveness of the results in saliva drug testing is based on the collection of the specimen.

• Adulteration:

- Adulteration of test samples in hair drug testing is highly impossible.

- In saliva drug testing, it is harder to adulterate but it is good to collect the specimen under the supervision for better results.

• Detects Major Drugs:

- Five major drugs abuse can be detected using hair drug testing using enzyme-immunoassay method.

- Seven major drugs can be detected using saliva drug testing, and using GC/MS method.

• Easy And Convenient:

- Hair drug testing technique is used at laboratories to detect drug presence from the test samples. Performing this test is easy, and convenient for those who know how to perform.

- Saliva drug testing is easy, and convenient to perform the test. This technique is more sensitive than any other drug testing method.

• Accuracy Of Results:

- Hair drug testing results are 100% accurate and these results are used as evidence for drug abuse.

- Accuracy of results in saliva drug testing is 95-98% and often performed in post accident situations.

• Skills Required For Conducting The Test:

- To perform a hair drug test, the person may need relevant knowledge to conduct the test. This test is usually conducted in highly equipped labs.

- Saliva drug testing can be performed by anyone, and at both home and lab.

This information gives characteristics of Hair drug testing and Saliva drug testing to understand the specific applications and to use both the testing methods effectively.

Researches on Saliva Drug Testing

drugtest — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 18:29:18 +0000

A huge amount of research has gone into the development of saliva drug testing methods. The methodologies used continue to evolve as a result of all this research resulting in more accurate and reliable tests. Saliva drug testing has its obvious advantages but unfortunately, it is not the final solution and it does have its drawbacks.

The major benefit of saliva drug testing is that unlike urine blood tests, it is much easier to collect the sample for testing and it is much more difficult to give a false sample. In urine drug testing the sample is collected in the privacy of a special booth constructed for the purpose or a toilet. The subject has the chance to provide a sample that is clean without the knowledge of the person in charge of testing. This has been the greatest issue with urine drug testing so far.

But the collection of saliva for saliva drug testing is accomplished easily and in public leaving out no space for the subject in question to pull a trick on the tester. The sample required for saliva drug testing is collected by using a scrub that resembles a toothbrush, the only difference being that at the end where there should be bristles, we find a swab that collects saliva. Saliva is collected by placing this collection mechanism between the lower cheek and gum for about two minutes.

Understandably, the collection method for saliva drug testing is obviously simpler than that for urine testing, or blood testing for that matter. Another great advantage of saliva drug testing is that, with the use of some instant testing kits, the result is availed pretty quickly without the need for a lab. In contrast, a blood test would require sample collection by a health care professional and testing in a lab significantly driving up the costs and the time required.

Saliva drug testing cannot be used as a comprehensive drug test for detecting long term drug use patterns. Most drugs do not leave a residue in the saliva beyond a 20 hour period. Saliva drug testing can be used safely to judge whether the person has consumed drugs within the last 24 hours but it won’t detect if the person has any history of drug abuse at all. A hair drug test would beat saliva drug testing at it any given day going back up to 90 days, but a hair drug test takes a month or so to give results.

Saliva drug testing is rather an excellent way by which to test long haul truck drivers on the spot before a trip to determine whether he has consumed any drugs recently that would impair his ability to drive safely. Saliva drug testing could also be employed in case of accidents on the job or on the road to determine whether drug abuse was a factor that contributed to the mishap. With instant results and easy sample collection, no other tests would compare with a saliva drug test in these conditions.

Saliva drug testing has the capability to detect up to 8 different drugs in the body. It is usually designed to detect 5 to 6 drugs at the same time. The results of saliva drug testing are accurate and completely reliable. So the question arises as to why saliva drug testing is not as popular or widely employed as the urine test or the blood test.

Saliva drug testing will eventually replace all other drug testing methods in all cases where a comprehensive drug abuse history is not required to be evaluated. This quick and easy method is poised to take the market by storm. That is unless the labs manage to bury it in propaganda.