HHS sends hair testing for drugs guidelines to White House for review

June 13, 2019

Chuck Robinson

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The U.S. Department of Health and Services’ final rule regarding the use of hair samples to test for drugs was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday, June 11.

However, it is expected to be months before the department’s guidelines on hair testing are made public.

“While HHS has sent the rule to OMB, it’s unlikely we will see the proposed hair testing guidelines for at least a couple more months,” said Jay Grimes, OOIDA’s director of federal affairs. “When the specific guidelines are released, OOIDA looks forward to sharing our concerns about hair testing, including certain biases toward hair color and texture, during the public comment period. Additionally, OOIDA has not seen any evidence showing any connection between hair testing and crash reduction.”

After HHS releases its guidelines, the U.S. Department of Transportation would still have to go through the rulemaking process before they could apply those guidelines to truck drivers.

The request for hair testing guidelines was originally part of the 2015 FAST Act.

Urinalysis satisfies the current drug and alcohol testing requirements by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. However, many large fleets currently require their employees to undergo hair and urine testing. The American Trucking Associations and Trucking Alliance have pushed for FMCSA to require hair testing as a method for detecting the use of a controlled substance.

OOIDA, as well as other groups, has been critical of the use of hair testing. The Association contends there is no evidence to support the allowance of hair testing.

“The Trucking Alliance has yet to demonstrate that they have experienced a reduction in crash rate since their voluntary adoption of hair testing,” the OOIDA Foundation wrote in its one-pager on the topic. “Neither have they presented evidence showing that their hair testing labs meet the rigorous standards of scientific methodology for testing or that their hair testing equipment and protocol has been consistent and unbiased.”

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice called hair testing “unreliable and discriminatory.”

In an opinion article for The Hill published in 2017, Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal of the Lawyers’ Committee and Larry Willis of the Transportation Trades Department wrote that hair testing for controlled substances isn’t accurate.

“Imagine being denied work – not because of your qualifications or work history, but because a drug test required for employment comes back positive for a drug you never used,” the article stated. “Now imagine learning that the test result could have been influenced by the color and texture of your hair. Sadly, this isn’t a plot of a sci-fi movie.

“Hair tests can lead to false positive results because certain drugs – like cocaine – which are found on common surfaces, including dollar bills, can be absorbed into hair. There is currently no way to fully cleanse hair of these drugs.”

As part of the guidelines, HHS is required to “eliminate the risk of positive test results of the individual being tested, caused solely by the drug use of others and not caused by the drug use of the individual being tested.”

Grimes added that the Association is optimistic that hair testing will not be a mandate for motor carriers.