Toxic Brew:
UM Researcher Unlocks Harm Done To Children From Poisons In Meth
From the Missoulian
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
A professor at the
University of Montana has a complete Meth manufacturing system set up in her
chemistry lab, designed to reproduce the toxins released into a home where Meth
is cooked. Dr. Sandra Wells of UM's Center for Environmental Health Sciences
hopes to pinpoint the health hazards associated with exposing children to Meth
by simulating an environment where it is smoked and manufactured.
Dr. Wells' research is
the only study of its kind to try and identify the health effects related to
Meth exposure. “The fact that there is no good data out there, nothing to
record any of the dangers these children are facing, that's concerning,” Wells
said. “We should be able to tell (state officials) with certainty what
constitutes child endangerment.” But there are no data to show that a child
will experience long-term lung problems, like asthma or pulmonary fibrosis, if
he or she lives at a residence where Meth is cooked.
In Montana, as of
December 2006, an average of 32.6 percent of all cases in which children are
pulled from families and into protective custody involve exposure to
Methamphetamine, while 65.9 percent are because the parents or caregivers are
involved with drugs in some way.
But the need for Dr.
Well’s research extends beyond Montana’s borders. Nationwide, figures show that
children are dangerously close to hazardous substances in 35 percent to 50
percent of labs busted. At least two reports have demonstrated that between 35
percent and 70 percent of children removed from labs has a urine drug screen
that is positive for Methamphetamine. According to the El Paso Intelligence
Center's National Clandestine Laboratory Seizure System, there were 1,660
children residing in Methamphetamine labs in 2005.
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