Child Exposure Testing

Child Exposure Testing

A Hair Test that Determines When a Child Is Exposed to Drugs (ChildGuard)

When a child or someone under guardianship is exposed to illegal substance abuse, they often also face other coexisting obstacles to a normal life – abuse, neglect, violence and other vulnerabilities. Substance abuse is a disease, one that often prevents adults doing what is in a child’s best interest. This environmental exposure hair test for children will identify a child’s exposure to drugs.

This environmental exposure test is the only drug test designed to detect passive exposure to drugs as well as both native drugs and drug metabolites in a hair specimen. Drug metabolites are produced in the body only if drugs have been ingested. Children in drug exposed environments are most often not drug users themselves, so drug metabolites are typically absent in a child’s specimen when tested. However, the hair, like a sponge, can absorb non-metabolized drugs (native drugs) if it is exposed through things such as touching or being in contact with drugs or drug users.

Standard hair tests will only report a positive exposure result if drug metabolites are detected, even when the native drug is in the child’s hair specimen. Our hair environmental exposure test reports a positive result if either native drugs or drug metabolites are detected.