Zinc reduces the detection of THC by ELISA testing

[zymos]

Just ran across this:
http://jat.oxfordjournals.org/content/35/6/333.short

Abstract

Federal workplace drug testing was initiated during the late 1980s. Since then, numerous methods have been employed to subvert these drug tests, adulteration of urine samples being the most common. A wide variety of adulterants has been reported to date along with suitable methods of their detection. Recently, websites have claimed that zinc sulfate can be an effective adulterant to bypass drug testing. Herein, these claims are investigated using standard drug detection kits and urine samples adulterated with zinc. Drug-free urine samples were fortified with different amounts methamphetamines and benzoylecgonine, to which zinc sulfate was added to study its effect. Urine samples from acute marijuana smokers were also obtained in order to study the effects of zinc supplements on THC drug testing. All urine drug testing was performed using ELISA detection kits manufactured by Immunalysis. Both zinc sulfate and zinc supplements are effective in interfering with the detection of all three drugs by Immunalysis drug detection kits. Also, no suitable method could be established to detect zinc in urine samples. Zinc can be an effective adulterant in urine for some illicit drugs that are commonly screened under routine drug testing.

 

[resinryder]

Good info!!

 

[walt cunningham]

so you put zinc in the urine or do you take it? if you put it in, how long does it take to have effects?

 

[kaotic]

...

 

[zymos]

I take 25mg's of Zinc Oxide and 50mg's of Zinc Gluconate daily. I still failed the piss tests. It does help me keep up with the ol lady though.

Oh well, maybe not then....

 

[Hydro-Soil]

The zinc goes in the piss... not you. LOL

Thanks for the info.

Personally.... i quit working for people/companies that require a piss test. It's one of the things I won't compromise on... unless my family would starve.

Stay Safe!

 

[foaf]

actually, either way worked in the study, ingestion and adding to the sample. here is more of the text of the above study

full text - https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&...gVKjDK&sig=AHIEtbTDKYiNG6trwP4B3cm4bEKhxFmhRg
----------------------

[this volunteer tests positive for THC after smoking marijuana.
However, two urine samples taken within 18 h of the volunteer
consuming 200 mg of zinc both tested negative for THC, fol-
lowed by two more samples in the following 18 h that again
tested positive. Beyond this point, three days following mari-
juana consumption, urine THC levels fall below the positive
cutoff.

Lastly, the possibility that addition of zinc sulfate to urine
might cause a detectable alteration in the absorption spec-
trum of the samples was examined. Urine was obtained from
four volunteers, each sample was split into two tubes, and zinc
sulfate (15 mg/mL) was added to half of each urine sample.
Then, the urine was analyzed by UV-vis spectroscopy. As seen
with one representative example in Figure 5, no observable dif-
ference was observed in the absorption spectrum of urine
caused by the addition of zinc sulfate. Thus, the adulteration of
urine samples with zinc, either by addition of zinc sulfate to
urine or by ingestion of a zinc tablets, escapes routine
screening for the presence of adulterants in urine obtained
for drug testing.

When zinc sulfate is added to actual or synthetic urine, a
slightly detectable white precipitate forms, which appears as a
turbid urine sample and sediments in 10–15 min at room tem-
perature. The amount of precipitate formed varies in propor-
tion to the amount of zinc sulfate added. According to the re-
vised SAMSHA 2004 guidelines, abnormal color, odor, and
excessive foaming are indicative of urine adulteration. How-
ever, because turbidity in a urine sample may arise due to nu-
merous factors, it is impossible to conclude that such a phys-
ical characteristic is a sign of adulteration unless it can be
associated with abnormal foaming, indicating the presence of
detergents in urine samples, which is not the case with samples
adulterated with zinc. Moreover, because sedimentation of
white flocculate is commonly observed in unaltered urine sam-
ples, turbidity cannot be associated solely as a sign of adulter-
ation with zinc.

Although some urine samples containing added zinc sulfate
may show signs of abnormal levels of chromate ions when
tested using Adultacheck10 urine test strips, urine samples
containing zinc by ingesting zinc supplements do not show any
sign of adulteration whatsoever. In addition, such samples do
not exhibit turbidity as observed with urine samples to which
zinc sulfate has been directly added. Thus, we are aware of no
suitable test to determine zinc adulteration in urine and con-
clude that zinc supplements are effective at subverting routine
drug testing and undetectable by standard means.

 

[kaotic]

Most of the minerals you take in a vitamin are not absorbed by the body, that's where the yellow comes from. Plus the study says Zinc Sulfate, which I was not taking. If I had that in vitamin form it might work for a piss test if you take enough. But, you should not take too much Zinc.

 

[G.O. Joe]

This article was free from ingentaconnect when it was published. Now, not free. Caged up in google maybe, but I don't like google, so I hope no one minds if it's posted; it's good reading.

 

[supermanlives]

good to know.i have never taken a test and never will

 

[foaf]

I've tried it. Test strips are cheap and so is zinc sulfate. I tried it on two different brands of strip.

Any amount of zinc sulfate, even 2 mg added to a sample blocks the positive reading, but it also blocks the control reading rendering the test invalid; all of the current strips I know about have a control bar that lights up using a enzyme assay at the top, so you can't use something that in general inhibits enzyme assays as it appears zinc does. that's the point of the control. So I don't think that this is as great as it sounded. dammit.