founded u.s. headquarters acton massachusetts u.s. key people raymond c. kubacki ceo products tests for drugs of abuse . services clinical laboratory website psychemedics.com psychemedics corporation is a united states corporation which provides patented fda cleared cap certified clinical laboratory services for the detection of drugs of abuse . the company s corporate headquarters are located in acton massachusetts and its laboratory operations are located in culver city california . contents 1 technology 2 controversies 3 hair testing history 4 references 5 external links technology edit dr. werner baumgartner was responsible for founding psychemedics and spearheading its initial research . a nationally recognized expert on drug testing through hair samples dr. baumgartner gained acclaim by procuring some strands of hair from the 19th century poet john keats . despite the age of the hair baumgartner was able to detect that the poet who died at the age of 26 from tuberculosis had been taking an increasing amount of opium before his death most likely used in painkillers . dr. baumgartner s find created a minor sensation enough to warrant a mention in a 1985 time magazine cover story about drugs in the workplace . 1 after years of research proved that drugs deposited in the hair can be accurately measured the company was formed in 1987 and pioneered the use of hair testing in commercial markets including banks manufacturers retailers mining operations hotels and casinos . the technology capitalizes on the way the body metabolizes ingested drugs as they flow through the blood stream and deposit in the cortex of the hair . hair is stable and the deposits are permanently embedded in the hair so hair acts like a tape recorder recording drug deposits in proportion to use over time as drugs are deposited in proportion to use . hair grows at approximately the rate of an inch per month and takes about 5 days to grow out past the external layer of skin . psychemedics standard test uses a 1 inch sample of head hair which provides an approximate 3 month history of drug use . body hair can also be collected if head hair is not available . 2 psychemedics hair tests are available in brazil through the company s independent distributor psychemedics brazil . the partnership goes back over 15 years and the drug tests are provided at clinics throughout brazil and then shipped to the lab in culver city california for analysis . 3 hair testing analyzes the hair shaft rather than body fluids like urine or saliva to determine whether illegal drugs are present . compared to analysis of body fluids hair testing is highly resistant to evasion by adulterating or substituting samples or by simply abstaining from drug use for a few days . though psychemedics previously used a proprietary radio immunoassay ria method 4 they have since switched to the industry standard enzyme immunoassay screening method which has been successfully employed for years by competitors such as quest diagnostics . 5 they use gc ms ms or lc ms ms confirmation to measure the drug molecules and metabolites within the hair which were incorporated following ingestion . the psychemedics technology includes tests for cocaine marijuana opiates including heroin and oxycodone methamphetamine ecstasy mdma eve mdea and phencyclidine pcp . a standard test of approximately one and one half inches of head hair cut close to the scalp can provide a several month window to detect drug ingestion . in 2013 psychemedics corporation began offering hair based alcohol ethyl glucuronide testing . this testing was previously attempted by laboratories in the united kingdom but has suffered from numerous lawsuits . due to the concerns of legal risk few laboratories offer this type of testing anymore as they deem it unreliable and unsupportable . 6 the society of hair testing also notes the limitations of etg stating that this form of testing can determine chronic excessive alcohol consumption only . this consensus is not applicable for determination of abstinence from alcohol or moderate consumption of alcohol . soft also states that it is not advisable to use the results of the hair testing for alcohol markers in isolation supporting the belief that additional testing evidence is required to properly identify an individual s alcohol usage . 7 as such this form of testing is only applicable for scenarios where severe alcohol abuse is present . the u.s. substance abuse and mental health services administration has cautioned that the test is scientifically unsupportable as the sole basis for legal or disciplinary action because the highly sensitive tests are not able to distinguish between alcohol absorbed into the body from exposure to many common commercial and household products containing alcohol or from the actual consumption of alcohol . 8 the u.s. food and drug administration has not granted fda clearance to the psychemedics corporation for their etg alcohol test at this time which brings the accuracy of this test into question . 9 controversies edit in may 2014 it was announced that the psychemedics corporation would be providing hair testing services to three private cleveland area schools . journalists quickly noted a severe conflict of interest as james kubacki principal of st. edward s high school is the brother of raymond kubacki ceo of the psychemedics corporation . the plain dealer noted that this fact was not disclosed to parents revealing that it wasn t stated at the institution wide meetings to discuss with students their soon to be curtailed privacy . 10 this is not the first time that the psychemedics corporation has been scrutinized for questionable business tactics having previously hired the high ranking employees of their clients . dr. george elder a principal for decades says he instituted drug testing for all students and faculty members at his school . now he s psychemedics vice president and pitchman . 11 hair testing history edit 1858 hoppe seyler publishes report finding arsenic in the hair in an 11 year old buried body . 1978 dr. werner baumgartner phd develops a radioimmunological ria method for detecting drug use from hair specimens . 1987 psychemedics begins offering services commercially references edit http www.encyclopedia.com doc 1g2 2690500080.html https www.questia.com newspaper 1p2 33394282 firms find effective way to detect drug use hair http www.wbjournal.com article 20131210 metrowest01 131219998 actons psychemedics eyes possible brazil expansion http www.psychemedics.com blog 2012 06 psychemedics corporation receives new additional fda clearances for hair analysis drug testing http blog.employersolutions.com hair testing industry standardization http www.barristermagazine.com archive articles issue 47 testing testing hair alcohol test in the family courts.html http www.soht.org pdf revised % 20alcohol % 20marker % 20consensus.pdf center for substance abuse treatment . the role of biomarkers in the treatment of alcohol use disorders . substance abuse treatment advisory . volume 5 issue 4 2006 http www.accessdata.fda.gov scripts cdrh cfdocs cfpmn pmn.cfm start search 1 & panel & productcode & knumber k & model & applicant psychemedics & devicename & type & thirdpartyreviewed off & clinicaltrials off & expeditedreview & decision & decisiondatefrom & decisiondateto & ivdproducts off & combinationproducts off & pagenum 10 & sortcolumn decisiondatedesc http www.cleveland.com metro index.ssf 2014 04 st eds president is brother of.html http reason.com archives 2014 05 02 2770 teens to be drug tested by company external links edit corporate web site retail pdt90 product web site school drug testing services web site retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title psychemedics corporation & oldid 705777327 categories companies based in massachusettscompanies listed on nasdaq navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 19 february 2016 at 14 30 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view