Pubdate: Wed, 18 May 2005
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2005 Star Tribune
Contact:  http://www.startribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/266
Author: Rob Hotakainen, Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/testing.htm (Drug Testing)

SELLERS OF WHIZZINATOR KITS TAKE THE FIFTH

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As the Whizzinator arrived on Capitol Hill on
Tuesday, members of Congress proposed passing a law that would make it
illegal to use such products to thwart drug tests.

The Whizzinator is one of approximately 400 different products used to
adulterate urine samples, and they present "formidable obstacles" to
the integrity of the nation's drug-testing programs, according to a
new federal report.

The report was released as three manufacturers and sellers of the
drug-test kits pleaded the Fifth Amendment, declining to answer
questions at a hearing after receiving subpoenas from the House Energy
and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said he doesn't understand how sellers of
the products sleep at night, calling them "jokers making a fortune
trying to defraud and deceive."

Minnesota Case

At a table in the back of the hearing room, panel members could
examine a plastic bag of synthetic toxin-free urine, attached to an
adjustable belt. The device, which includes a prosthetic penis, has
become well-known in Minnesota after it was disclosed last week that
Vikings running back Onterrio Smith had been detained by airport
police for carrying both the Whizzinator and dried urine.

According to a police report, Smith said the kit he was carrying last
month at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport was "for
making a clean urine test." He told police he was taking it to his
cousin. Smith was neither arrested nor charged.

Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., the subcommittee's ranking member, said
that some might chuckle about Smith's case but that there are "serious
implications" to the use of such products and that Congress needs to
act.

"The laughs quickly end when one considers that such a product could
be used by persons operating nuclear power plants, driving 1,000-foot
supertankers into port or bus drivers bringing our children into
school," Stupak said.

George Moore, attorney for a four-county district in eastern Kentucky,
told the panel that typing the phrase "pass the urine test" into an
Internet search engine will yield thousands of hits.

"One recent effort on my part yielded 657,000 possible websites for
review," he said.

The report by the Government Accountability Office concluded that
products to defraud drug tests "are easily obtained" and "brazenly
marketed" on the Internet. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, suggested making
it illegal to post ads for such products.

"I think the consensus is we need some federal action," said Rep. Ed
Whitfield, R-Ky., the subcommittee's chairman.

To highlight the issue, the panel heard testimony by video conference
from Josiah Smith, a Maryland prison inmate. Smith, 31, said that he
began using drugs at age 13 and that he once used a drug-test kit
before taking a drug test when he applied for a job at a Wal-Mart store.

"As long as you follow the directions, they work perfectly," Smith
said.

He said he got the job. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake