Baby soap triggers false positive for marijuana
Posted June 20, 2012 6:46 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A hospital in North Carolina became concerned when a number of infants in their nursery tested positive for marijuana exposure.
Researchers began looking into the cause.
“We went up to the nursery and followed the nurses and the staff around, to identify everything that was done, everything that was essentially touching those babies skins that could possibly come into contact with the urine that we were subsequently testing,” the study’s lead author Dr. Catherine Hammet-Stabler told ABC News.
The study, conducted at the University of North Carolina, found that a number of baby soaps and shampoos were causing the false positive.
The soaps that were specifically associated with a false-positive included Johnson & Johnson’s Bedtime Bath, CVS Night-Time Baby Bath, Aveeno Baby Soothing Relief Creamy Wash and Aveeno Baby Wash & Shampoo.
Johnson’s Head-to-Toe Baby Wash, CVS Baby Wash, Baby Magic and even standard hospital gel hand soap were also found to contain the presence of marijuana metabolites, however not to the level that would cause a false positive.
Researchers found that just 0.1 millilitres or less of the cleansing product in a urine sample could trigger the false positive.
Researchers have not concluded why the products create a false positive but say they are not intoxicating.
Hospitals often test infants for marijuana exposure in cases of high risk mothers.
