Hair Follicle Drug Testing
Hair testing has come to be seen as a powerful tool for the detection of drug and alcohol misuse. Hair provides a long-term history of drug and alcohol misuse by trapping biomarkers in the fibers of the growing hair strand. When collected close to the scalp, hair can provide up to a 3-month history of alcohol and drug misuse. Hair offers a simple sample to collect, somewhat difficult to adulterate, and easy to ship. A 1.5-inch sample of about 200 strands of hair (about the size of a #2 pencil) closest to the scalp will give 100mg of hair, the ideal sample for screening and confirmation. For EtG, add-ons, and/or tests above 10 panels, 150mg of the specimen is recommended. We recommend weighing the specimen on a jeweler’s scale. If scalp hair is unavailable, an equal amount of body hair may be collected. When referring to head hair, we are referring to scalp hair only. Body hair refers to all other hair types (facial, axillary, etc.).
Drug Test
Child Guard Hair Exposure Drug Testing
When a child is exposed to illegal substance abuse, they often face other coexisting obstacles to normal life – neglect, abuse, violence, and other vulnerabilities. Substance misuse is a disease that often prevents adults from doing what is in a child’s best interest. Detecting these dangerous environments is paramount to keeping the child safe. Testing with Child Guard can assist where other exposure drug tests fall short. Child Guard is the only drug test designed to detect passive exposure to drugs, distinguishing between both native drugs and drug metabolites in hair specimens. Drug metabolites are produced in the body only if drugs have been ingested. Children in drug-exposed environments are most often not drug users themselves, so drug metabolites are typically absent when a child is being tested for drug exposure. Typical hair tests with other labs will only report a positive exposure result if drug metabolites are detected, even when the native drug is in the child’s hair specimen. ChildGuard reports a positive result if either native drugs or drug metabolites are detected, giving much better insight into the child’s environment. Child Guard can provide evidence of substance use in a child’s environment for the past 3 months and can be performed on donors of any age.
A positive Child Guard test result suggests that the donor has experienced one or more of the following:
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Contact with drug smoke
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Contact with sweat or sebum (skin oil) of a drug user
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Contact with the actual drug
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Accidental or intentional ingestion of the drug(s)
