ATA Applauds Lawmakers for Pressing HHS to Modernize Drug Testing Programs

Washington - The American Trucking Associations today praised six Members of Congress for sending a letter urging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to remove regulatory barriers that have stalled the adoption of modern, effective workplace drug testing methods-including hair and oral fluid testing-in safety sensitive industries.

The letter was signed by Representatives Andy Harris (R MD), Ben Cline (R VA), Pete Sessions (R TX), Mike Bost (R IL), Mike Collins (R GA), and Claudia Tenney (R NY) and sent to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

"For far too long, HHS has dragged its feet on implementing science-based drug testing policy, and these bureaucratic delays have come at the expense of safety," said ATA President & CEO Chris Spear. "ATA applauds the leadership of Representatives Harris, Cline, Sessions, Bost, Collins, and Tenney for calling on HHS to correct the failures of previous administrations, follow the law, and strengthen safety across the nation's transportation network."

In their letter to HHS, the Members of Congress wrote that current federal drug testing programs "serve a critical public safety mission," but warned that outdated regulatory structures now "threaten the relevance and effectiveness of the entire program."

Oral fluid testing was approved for regulated use in 2023, yet no U.S. laboratory has been able to achieve certification due to barriers imposed by the Food & Drug Administration. Additionally, in 2015, Congress first directed HHS to recognize hair testing as a valid alternative to urine testing for commercial motor vehicle drivers. HHS has still not issued the necessary guidance despite Congress reaffirming that directive earlier this year.

The primary obstacle to the widespread adoption of oral fluid testing is a requirement by the FDA to oversee workplace drug testing programs. FDA's clearance pathway is structured around clinical patient diagnostics, however, and is not well suited for validating testing methods that cover more than 6.5 million DOT-regulated workers and hundreds of thousands of federal employees.

Workplace drug testing programs already receive robust oversight from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Laboratory Certification Program. This supervision meets or exceeds FDA standards.

The Members called on HHS to:

• Exempt workplace drug testing programs from review by FDA, which is ill-equipped to oversee the forensic nature of these tests.
• Reaffirm that workplace drug testing programs are subject to the rigorous oversight framework provided by SAMHSA and NLCP.
• Direct SAMHSA's Division of Workplace Programs to serve as the authoritative body for future updates to drugs, cutoffs, testing technologies, and specimen types, ensuring the federal program can remain current and responsive to evolving public safety threats.
• Finalize the hair testing guidelines as directed by Congress over a decade ago. While the above steps would pave the way for the implementation of hair testing, this can only happen if HHS promptly finalizes its long-overdue rule.

The lawmakers further stressed that modernization is urgently needed to combat growing efforts to defeat traditional urine drug tests. According to an analysis of Quest Diagnostics data, substituted and invalid drug specimens-two common forms of drug test subversion-increased over 370% and 36%, respectively, from 2022 to 2023 among federally regulated, safety-sensitive employees.

"Oral fluid, hair, and other directly observed specimen types significantly reduce the opportunity for specimen substitution and have demonstrated higher positivity rates as a result. These alternative testing methods offer the critical safeguards needed to keep impaired workers from operating on our nation's roads and transportation systems and protect public safety," the lawmakers wrote.

Click here to read the letter.