Baby care products causing infants to falsely test positive for marijuana: Study

Numerous baby products, such as soaps and shampoos, are said to be mistakenly leading newborns to test positive for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) exposure, the active ingredient in marijuana, according to a new study conducted by University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

During the routine urine tests, the researchers found that THC showed false positive results.

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill lead study author Catherine Hammett-Stabler said that the researchers initially were unable to isolate what was causing the urine tests to test positive for marijuana.

"We went up to the nursery, followed the nurses and the staff around to identify everything that was done, everything that was essentially touching those babies’ skins, could possibly come into contact with the urine that we were subsequently testing," Hammett-Stabler told ABC News.

"We were really surprised when we found it was the soaps were the culprit," added Hammett-Stabler.

The study also found that soaps and shampoos that include chemicals such as polyquarternium-11 and cocamidopropyl betaine could trigger positive THC results.

According to the researchers, the trace amount of chemicals that are 0.1ml or less were also coming from the soaps and making way into the urine samples used for the study, after washing off the babies’ bodies.

The labs need to be aware of the potential source for false positive screening results and understand that sources of error are not confined to the laboratory walls, said the researchers.