Pubdate: Thu, 18 Oct 2001
Source: Tulsa World (OK)
Copyright: 2001 World Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.tulsaworld.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/463
Author: Omer Gillham
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

OU TO STUDY METH EFFECTS ON NEWBORNS

The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Tulsa has been 
selected as one of six sites nationwide to study the troubling 
effects of methamphetamine on newborn children.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse has funded the study with a 
five-year, $6.57 million grant, said Penny Grant, a clinical 
assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the OU College 
of Medicine-Tulsa.

Grant, the study's principal investigator in Oklahoma, said OU's part 
of the grant will be about $1 million. Oklahoma is among the top 
three states, including California and Missouri, that are suffering 
from a plague of meth labs and meth abuse, she said.

"The effects of meth on small children and the addict himself can 
have horrible consequences in some cases," said Grant, who has 
treated children exposed to clandestine meth operations. "Children 
exposed to the drug in the fetus or those exposed to an active meth 
lab develop an array of health and emotional difficulties."

Of the six sites selected to share the federal grant, Tulsa is 
expected to enroll the largest number of meth-exposed babies in its 
study, Grant said.

Last year local physicians and emergency room workers reported more 
than 150 newborn and small children with symptoms of meth exposure.

Figures supplied by the Tulsa Police Department reveal that officers 
encounter children in 35 percent of the meth lab raids they conduct.

Grant said the effects of meth on children as old as 5 years include 
low birth weight, respiratory problems, fits of anger and sleeping 
difficulties.

Many children tend to struggle with "sensory integration," which 
means they dislike being touched or held, said Grant, who has been 
recognized for her preliminary observations of children who were 
exposed to toxic chemicals associated with methamphetamine production.

Other research sites included in the grant are the University of 
Maryland, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Hawaii, 
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles and Iowa Health System in 
Des Moines.

The grant will be administered by the Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital 
and Brown Medical School in Providence, R.I.

The multiyear study will involve screening 27,000 infants in nine 
hospitals across the United States.

To get a well-rounded study, the program will involve enrolling 
newborn babies who have not been exposed to methamphetamine in 
addition to those who have, Grant said.

Grant said mothers who have exposed their newborns to methamphetamine 
will not be reported to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services 
unless the child's life is in apparent danger or if other signs of 
extreme abuse "are obvious."

"We want to enroll as many (meth) moms in the study as we can, and we 
can't do that if they fear being turned in," said Grant, who also 
works in the Tulsa Children's Justice Center at 2829 S. Sheridan Road.

Mothers who are struggling with meth addiction will be referred to 
counseling and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, she said.
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