Pubdate: Thu, 08 Feb 2007 Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MO) Copyright: 2007 St. Louis Post-Dispatch Contact: http://www.stltoday.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/418 Author: Grant Slater, Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) HOUSE FUNDS RESEARCH ON AFTERMATH OF METH-MAKING WASHINGTON -- If you're moving to a house or an apartment in Missouri, your new place is more likely to have been a former methamphetamine lab than in any other state, federal officials say. That's no big deal if it has been properly cleaned up, which involves removing meth residue. But lack of information on potential dangers and cleanup led the House of Representatives on Wednesday to authorize funding of federal research on the aftermath of meth-making. In Missouri no guidelines exist for the remediation of defunct labs, unlike in several other states. Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-St. Louis, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said the issue has been overlooked for too long. "As my district lies in the state leading the nation in meth incidents, I have seen firsthand the harmful and wide-reaching effects of the substance," Carnahan said. He said he supported the legislation with three groups in mind: the children of meth users and producers, first responders whose jobs send them to meth labs on a regular basis and people who rent houses where labs have existed in the past. Tom Murphy, an agent for the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in St. Louis, noted the number of meth lab busts in Missouri has surpassed every other state since 2002. The number of labs plummeted by nearly half between 2005 and 2006, from 2,176 to 1,268. But Missouri still tops the list. Only one study has been conducted into the potential effects of meth residue. Michael Van Dyke, a researcher with the National Jewish Medical and Research Center, said that study sent him on police raids of meth houses at any hour of the day or night -- houses where officers often led children to squad cars along with the suspected lab operators. Inside the homes, Van Dyke said researchers sometimes found meth residue covering everything, especially porous surface such as carpets, a dog's coat and childrens' stuffed toys. "Some of the things we saw, the houses were just a mess," Van Dyke said. "It was really disheartening to think that children are living in these environments." The center's work initially encompassed only the effects of meth exposure on first responders. As the focus expanded, the center conducted controlled "cooks" with DEA agents acting as "chefs" to determine the extent and longevity of harmful chemicals in residences. They found meth residue in houses where evidence suggested the last cook had occurred a week earlier, he said. Sgt. Jason Grellner, commander of the Franklin County Narcotics Enforcement Unit, endorsed the legislation. Currently property owners will turn to cleanup crews who normally deal with fire and flood damage, Grellner said. While those crews do clean the house, there is no standard for procedure or levels of decontamination. "It's been haphazard because people will clean these properties to their own specifications, some doing a very good job and others not," Grellner said. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman