New product playing havoc with pre-employment drug screenings

• Synthetic Urine

Synthetic urine may help some cheat pre-employement drug screenings.

Talk about it

Employers beware. There's another product out there that could help people cheat on pre-employment drug tests. It's synthetic urine, and when used properly it's perfectly legal.

To some people Quick Fix Plus could be the difference between unemployment, and getting a good job. This unisex three ounce bottle of synthetic urine sells at Mellow Moods in Moorhead for less than $30.

Russ Conrad – Direct Transport Safety Director: "My first reaction would be to be very concerned."

Synthetic urine came as a shock to Russ Conrad, the safety director at Direct Transport, a West Fargo company that hires truck drivers.

Russ Conrad: “Obviously if they are going to this extreme to do that you know they are on something, or trying to get around the system."

It actually works. We brought it to Any Lab Test Now to see if this synthetic urine passes the test. All you have to do is pop off the cap and put it in the microwave for ten seconds to get the temperature between 94 and 100 degrees. Once it's done heating up, all someone has to do is take the heat pack that comes with it, wrap it around the bottle, and it stays warm up to 5 hours.

Dan Parker – Any Lab Test Now Owner: “The nitrates, the ph, the bleach level, the gravity, those are all looking good."

The only red flag was the low level of creatinine, but this can be common in anyone's urine.

Dan Parker: “Parts of the body can cause it to be off a little bit. That's why if the employer wants it sent off we can for further testing."

Perhaps the biggest shock of all is that it's perfectly legal for pre-employment screenings.

Lt. Tory Jacobson – Moorhead Police: “That's something between the employer and employee, and the employer has the right to terminate the employee or not hire them based on that."

Back at Direct Transport Conrad says he's alarmed, but can count on one thing: With every way to get around the test there will soon be even better technology to catch cheaters.

Both Spectrum Labs, the producer of Quick Fix Plus, and Mellow Moods have not responded to our request for comment.

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