I thought that this was another of the "alligators in our sewers"-type urban legends until I read Anahad O'Connor's piece on the subject in the January 11 New York Times Science section.
Every week, he takes a claim like this, then investigates it for his "Really?" feature.
He delved into the subject of poppy seeds and heroin, both of which come from the opium poppy, with Dr. Timothy P. Rohrig of the Regional Forensic Science Center in Kansas.
O'Connor wrote,
• "Eating a couple of bagels heavily coated with poppy seeds can result in morphine in a person's system for hours, leading a routine drug test to come back positive."
• Because of this possibility, the federal government recently raised the threshold for opiates in workplace testing to 2,000 nanograms a milliliter, up from 300.
So stick to sesame seeds on judgment day, would be my advice.
Article comments
1 - Mark Saleski
yes, the guys on Mythbusters tested this a while back.
i think something like one slice of lemon poppyseed cake did the trick.
2 - Eric Olsen
well at least the feds were sensible enough to acknowledge this and raise the limit - how rare!
3 - Aaman
Reminds of the Seinfeld episode "The Showerhead" (feat. Jay Leno)
Then the chicken, and the osteoporosis.
4 - Aaman
Bad URL there - better one
5 - Ashley VanScoten
Wow, I thought this was true! Well, I just had a drug test (routine) at my clinic, and I came back + for opiates! And guess what? I eat poppy seed butter on bread every single day! Imagine that... Im so devestated!
6 - Christopher Rose
It's very hard to imagine what it is like to live in a country where the law is so intrusive as to require the level of drug testing we read of all the time. How are things in China? Oops, sorry, the USA?
*ducks*
7 - melissalee
i just failed a drug exam for that and it bothers me because the conselours do not see it that way