Oral Fluids Testing — Current Barriers to USDOT Approval

Oral Fluids Testing — Current Barriers to USDOT Approval

Oral fluids testing offered by several national drug testing labs (Quest, Alere, and Omega for example) provides a new method for the detection of metabolites for drug testing, but is not currently approved for use by the USDOT.

One barrier that currently exists is that the USDOT requires the ability to split each specimen. Two oral fluid testing devices would be considered two separate specimens in the eyes of the DOT, and therefor unacceptable. One clear solution is for the collection swab to be split into two pieces and be deposited into two vials, just like a urine specimen.
For this to work, it must be built into the device, as manually cutting the swab would risk contamination.

Another problem faced by the labs is in the collection process itself. The current methods mostly involve the employee (or “donor”) handling the specimen collection device and to place the swab into the vials, with the collector doing almost none of it. This level of donor involvement changes the risk factors for the process, introducing several other opportunities for errors outside of the control of the collector.

It is also important to note that the detection window for oral fluids is shorter than urine testing, but the pros may outweigh the cons in this case.
The advantages of oral fluids testing are obvious though. Each test becomes a de facto observed test, and entirely eliminates the key vulnerability of urine testing: the moment the donor enters the enclosure alone.
If the labs can satisfactorily solve these issues, oral fluids testing may be able to get USDOT approval for use on federal tests. If there were such thing as off-track betting for drug testing regulations, Smart Test would put a bet or two on “five years away.”

Smart Test- Boston
240 Commercial St. 
Boston, MA 02109
Location: 240 Commercial St., FL 3, Boston, MA 02109, United States

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