Alton Brown Was Wrong
I just watched the cracker episode of Good Eats and I have to say that Alton was wrong. Dead wrong. He's been wrong before but I think, in this case, he was wrong in a way that could cause real and lasting problems for a few people under the right (or, in fact, wrong) circumstances.
Having a family member who experienced this directly and having recently researched false positives for my own reasons I can say with unshakeable conviction that, no matter what Alton Brown tells you, consuming poppy seeds can cause you to fail a drug test. In some people even small quantities are enough. Braniac, Food Detectives, Mythbusters, Snopes, and various others throughout news, entertainment, and internet media have confirmed it but that's just the popular culture evidence.
Scientific study has proven it is possible time and time again to the point where the cut-off level required for a positive result was actually raised to reduce the number of false positives in the drug testing industry. Even as the drug testing industry spokespeople were paying doctors to go on T.V. and claim it wasn't possible they were raising this limit due to the amount of money being lost in lawsuits brought by dismissed employees who had been sacked due to the results of the false positives.
The raised level has reduced the number of false positives but it wasn't really good enough. Here's why. Even with the change in the cut-off level it is still possible to test positive with nothing more than a bagel or some poppy seed bread or a handful of crackers. There are many variables such as differences in body chemistry, differences in poppy seeds (as an agricultural product they actually vary quite a bit), body weight, what the seeds were consumed with, how long ago they were consumed, how well they were chewed, and so on.
The other problem is that the raised cut-off level have also increased the number of false negatives. My personal opinion is that your job and your government should be the hell out of your personal life and you should be able to do whatever the fuck you want so long as you are safely sober when you're on the clock. However, opiate addicts, unlike users of other drugs I've discussed on this blog before, are much more likely to have a real problem and need real help. Skating by with a negative when you should have tested positive isn't really doing you any favors.
What is needed is a either a new test or a new approach to testing. I don't have all the answers and I can't say that I support any of the various active organizations working in this area. I may agree with most of their views but, in my mind, all of them will eventually cross a line that I'm uncomfortable with. For instance, I'm all for decriminalization but I can't support the legalization of all drugs. You don't have to run in to many crack, meth, or huffing addicts to realize that not everything should be legalized.
My suggestion to everyone is that you should all open your own mind. Go look at the info and make your own decision. Whatever you do don't believe everything you are told, no matter how trusted the source. Whether it's Alton Brown, the D.E.A., your naive-to-the-point-of-sillines mother-in-law, or me telling you what to think you're better off drawing your own conclusions; even if they are wrong. People who draw their own conclusions are more willing to change their mind if new information is presented. So, to me, even if you search out the info and decide I'm full of crap the fact that you got there on your own means there is a chance that, with logic and data, I can change your mind.
Having a family member who experienced this directly and having recently researched false positives for my own reasons I can say with unshakeable conviction that, no matter what Alton Brown tells you, consuming poppy seeds can cause you to fail a drug test. In some people even small quantities are enough. Braniac, Food Detectives, Mythbusters, Snopes, and various others throughout news, entertainment, and internet media have confirmed it but that's just the popular culture evidence.
Scientific study has proven it is possible time and time again to the point where the cut-off level required for a positive result was actually raised to reduce the number of false positives in the drug testing industry. Even as the drug testing industry spokespeople were paying doctors to go on T.V. and claim it wasn't possible they were raising this limit due to the amount of money being lost in lawsuits brought by dismissed employees who had been sacked due to the results of the false positives.
The raised level has reduced the number of false positives but it wasn't really good enough. Here's why. Even with the change in the cut-off level it is still possible to test positive with nothing more than a bagel or some poppy seed bread or a handful of crackers. There are many variables such as differences in body chemistry, differences in poppy seeds (as an agricultural product they actually vary quite a bit), body weight, what the seeds were consumed with, how long ago they were consumed, how well they were chewed, and so on.
The other problem is that the raised cut-off level have also increased the number of false negatives. My personal opinion is that your job and your government should be the hell out of your personal life and you should be able to do whatever the fuck you want so long as you are safely sober when you're on the clock. However, opiate addicts, unlike users of other drugs I've discussed on this blog before, are much more likely to have a real problem and need real help. Skating by with a negative when you should have tested positive isn't really doing you any favors.
What is needed is a either a new test or a new approach to testing. I don't have all the answers and I can't say that I support any of the various active organizations working in this area. I may agree with most of their views but, in my mind, all of them will eventually cross a line that I'm uncomfortable with. For instance, I'm all for decriminalization but I can't support the legalization of all drugs. You don't have to run in to many crack, meth, or huffing addicts to realize that not everything should be legalized.
My suggestion to everyone is that you should all open your own mind. Go look at the info and make your own decision. Whatever you do don't believe everything you are told, no matter how trusted the source. Whether it's Alton Brown, the D.E.A., your naive-to-the-point-of-sillines mother-in-law, or me telling you what to think you're better off drawing your own conclusions; even if they are wrong. People who draw their own conclusions are more willing to change their mind if new information is presented. So, to me, even if you search out the info and decide I'm full of crap the fact that you got there on your own means there is a chance that, with logic and data, I can change your mind.
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posted by Unknown at 5:58 PM
1 Comments:
Alton Brown is the cooking equivalent of Chuck Norris
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