Conclusions of the Council and the Ministers for Health of the Member States meeting within the Council of 16 May 1989 concerning the reliability of tests on body fluids to detect the use of illicit drugs
Date: 1989-05-16
Institutions: Council of the European Union, Representatives of the Governments of the Member States
Subjects: drug addiction, health policy, medical data, medical diagnosis, protection of privacy, toxicology













EUR-Lex - 41989X0722(01) - EN






Avis juridique important




|



41989X0722(01)

Conclusions of the Council and the Ministers for Health of the Member States meeting within the Council of 16 May 1989 concerning the reliability of tests on body fluids to detect the use of illicit drugs  


Official Journal C 185 , 22/07/1989 P. 0002 - 0002 





CONCLUSIONS of the Council and the Ministers for Health of the Member States meeting within the Council of 16 May 1989 concerning the reliability of tests on body fluids to detect the use of illicit drugs (89/C 185/02) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES AND THE MINISTERS FOR HEALTH OF THE MEMBER STATES MEETING WITHIN THE COUNCIL    1. EXPRESS their concern at the use of illicit drugs and its consequences for public health;       2. NOTE the increase in the screening of urine, in the Member States, for the presence of illicit drugs;       3. CONSIDER that it is important to avoid false positive results which may have undesirable consequences for the individual;       4. ALSO NOTE that the following difficulties may exist in certain cases:      - screening and tests to confirm the presence of illicit drugs in urine involve the identification of the possible presence of a number of illicit drugs and their metabolites ; however, reliable reference materials are not always available and are costly to produce,           - the specificity of all the screening tests on the market is not always appropriate to the problems at hand and confirmation test methods can show significant discrepanies in specificity and sensitivity,           - several intercomparison programmes already carried out reveal the difficulties which often exist in carrying out such screening, and in particular the risks of false positive results,           - the need for adequate confirmation of positive screening results may not always be met,           - an increasing number of laboratories perform screening and confirmation tests, sometimes for commercial interests not always compatible with quality;         5. INVITE the Commission, with the assistance of a Working Party of representatives of the Member States, to examine firstly:      (a) in what circumstances, for what purposes and the frequency with which individuals undergo screening for the use of illicit drugs by urine testing,           (b) what are the consequences for individuals of positive tests,           (c) to what extent such screening and confirmation tests and their consequences are compatible with the new circumstances which will apply with the establishment of the internal market;         6. INVITE the Commission, in the light of the results of the examinations referred to in 5 (a), (b) and (c) and after coordination with other competent bodies, such as the United Nations Division of Narcotic Drugs and the WHO, to assess whether it would be necessary or desirable to:      (a) examine the criteria currently used for reporting positive results, including the need to distinguish between screening and confirmation,           (b) examine the existing quality assurance programmes,           (c) check on the availability of certified reference materials for illicit drugs and metabolites;         7. CALL UPON the Commission to report to the Council on its findings.