Adulteration Info

Adulteration FAQ

What is urine adulteration in drugs of abuse testing?

Urine adulteration refers to the situation where urine donors add extraneous substances into the urine specimens with the hope that these substances will alter the drugs of abuse test results rendering a positive reading into a negative reading.

How widespread is urine adulteration?

Urine adulteration is most prevalent in the United States. With the easy access of information from the Internet, the number of adulterated specimens is increasing. Even in Europe and Australia, urine adulteration is becoming a big problem.

What is the nature of these adulterants?

There are basically two classes of adulterants. One class includes commercially available products like Stealth or Whizzies. The other class includes commonly available household substances such as:

• Water
• Bleach
• Detergent
• Eye Drops
• Baking Soda
• Iodine Tincture
• Vinegar 

Does urine adulteration really work?

Most adulterants do not work very well. However, some adulterants do affect the results of drug testing. For example:

• Bleach interferes with on-site drug tests leading to false negative results.
• Several commercial adulterants also interfere with on-site drug tests leading to false negative results
• Water can dilute the sample which may lower the concentration of the drug in the sample below an onsite screen's cut-off level. This would create a false negative result.