title: Current status of accreditation for drug testing in hair.
abstract: At the annual meeting of the Society of Hair Testing in Vadstena, Sweden in 2006, a committee was appointed to address the issue of guidelines for hair testing and to assess the current status of accreditation amongst laboratories offering drug testing in hair. A short questionnaire was circulated amongst the membership and interested parties. Fifty-two responses were received from hair testing laboratories providing details on the amount and type of hair tests they offered and the status of accreditation within their facilities. Although the vast majority of laboratories follow current guidelines (83%), only nine laboratories were accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 for hair testing. A significant number of laboratories reporting that they were in the process of developing quality systems with a view to accrediting their methods within 2-3 years. This study provides an insight into the status of accreditation in hair testing laboratories and supports the need for guidelines to encourage best practice.
authors.affiliation: Forensic Medicine and Science, University of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Gail
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Manfred
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moeller
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kronstrand
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005060:Europe; D053593:Forensic Toxicology; D006197:Hair / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States