Pentagon warns US troops against eating poppy seeds

The US Defence Department issued an official warning to troops final week: for those who do not wish to check constructive on a drug check, it’s best to keep away from poppy seeds.

A memo distributed on Friday from Gilbert Cisneros, the Undersecretary of Defence for Personnel and Readiness, directed navy service leaders to “notify service members to avoid consumption of all poppy seeds to include food products and baked goods containing poppy seeds”.

“Out of an abundance of caution, I find protecting service members and the integrity of the drug testing program requires a warning to avoid poppy seeds,” Cisneros wrote within the memo, launched on Tuesday.

US troops have been warned to keep away from consuming poppy seeds. (Getty)

“As more information becomes available, we will revise this policy accordingly.”

The issues over poppy seeds leading to constructive drug checks should not new, as Cisneros identified in his memo.

Indeed, a 1998 examine mentioned drug display cut-offs had been questioned due to the constructive outcomes “following the ingestion of poppy seed containing food products”.

That has persevered over time.

Another examine revealed simply final 12 months says consuming poppy seed merchandise can result in “opiate-positive urine drug test results”.

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However, Cisneros mentioned that current information suggests some poppy seed variants have greater codeine contamination than beforehand thought.

“Consumption of poppy seed products could cause a codeine positive urinalysis result and undermine the Department’s ability to identify illicit drug use,” Cisneros wrote.

The contamination might pose an issue for service members with a proclivity for poppy seed bagels or muffins who might be drug examined at random by their unit.

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Source: www.9news.com.au