Drug Testing News

Delta Airlines Employees "Substituting" Urine Samples.

In the last year more than 15 airline employees at Delta Airlines were terminated for allegedly "substituting" their urine samples. One flight attendant in Portland, Oregon has made her fight public and has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Atlanta Constitution, and many talk and radio shows. Her name is Yasuko Ishikawa, a vegetarian, 95 lb, Japanese woman. She is not a drug user, yet she was terminated after a random drug test came back stating that she had failed to comply with drug testing procedures and that her sample was substituted. They determined that her sample was "substituted" because during LABONE, inc's validity testing, her specimen was considered "not consistent with normal human urine."

This so-called "validity" testing tested for color, temp, ph, creatinine, and specific gravity. The rigid D.O.T. regulations state that creatinine levels must be above 5ml and specific gravity (water) must be above 1.001 ml ior it will be considered substitutted. Ms. Ishikawa's levels were right on the exact levels to be determined as a substitute. She did not test positive for any drugs, so her right to review was revoked and she was terminated without a chance to contest or retest.

Creatinine levels are produced from muscles and collected in the kidneys. From there, they are flushed out through the urinary process. For those with low muscle mass and drink many fluids, beware this can happen to you. Another flight attendant in LAX has been terminated for the same thing. Both have filed suit against their airlines, as they were given no basic civil rights by their companies. More airline personel have also lost their jobs at other airlines and are silently suffering until something can be done about this atrocious abuse of power.