Chronic Toxicity: The meth lab toxins that keep on giving

What kind of health problems can be caused by living in a home that’s been used as a meth lab? Living in a former meth lab home that is still contaminated with toxic chemicals over a period of months or years can have long term effects on your health. Long term exposure to toxins is known as chronic toxicity.

Chronic toxicity, put simply, is the illness that arises  after you’ve been exposed to small amounts of toxic chemicals over a long period of time. According to the Partnership for a Drug Free America, chronic exposure to meth lab chemicals leads to chronic Read more

Meth Lab Chemicals Cause Pancreatic Cancer In Utah Officer

A 46 year old, former narcotics officer from Utah, developed pancreatic cancer, that he attributed to his years of exposure to toxic meth lab chemicals.

A study about the toxic effects of meth lab chemicals on Utah First Responders failed to show a connection between their exposure and their illnesses. However, researchers involved in the meth lab health study admit that the study they conducted study was small.

Read more

AIDS and Methamphetamine: The Perfect Storm

Methamphetamine use has a direct impact on the spread of AIDS, due to the changes that occur in the brains and bodies of users who are high on the drug. Research about the popularity of meth is fueled by two aspects of the drug that entice new users to try it and then keeps them hooked. One is its ability to remove a Read more

Pullyap Washington: Police officers at risk from meth lab chemicals call it quits

In April of 2007, police officers were called to investigate a possible meth lab operation located in a condominium.  As a result of that investigation as well as an additional meth lab investigation, the police union filed a grievance against the city of Pullup. Their grievance resulted in the city being cited on 6 Read more

Controversy surrounds Utah study on meth lab effects on First Responders

The results of a $500,000, two year study ordered by Utah legislators that was designed to examine meth lab exposure and health effects was announced on Wednesday. The approval of the study was prompted when law enforcement officers filed claims for workman’s compensation, alleging that their health problems were Read more

Salt Lake County family denied the right to sue health department over meth lab home

Like thousands of people across America, the Alkinani family bought a home expecting that the home was “safe to live in”. But, when neighbors told them that the home had been used as a meth lab, they decided to contact their local health department. The health department admitted that the home had once been used as Read more

Exposure to chemicals in former meth labs can cause serious health problems

Residual solids and liquids in the form of surface residues, spills, etc. will remain in place unless physically removed. Until completely and thoroughly removed, there is a possibility of being exposed to these residuals risking injury.

The longer the exposure, the greater the potential for harm. Exposure over an extended period of time (months to years to a lifetime) is known as “chronic exposure.” Not much is known about the chronic health effects from methamphetamine labs. There is scientific evidence, however, that shows that the chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine can cause a variety of health effects including Read more

1995 EPA Policy Report: Effect of toxins on children

Children face the highest risk of becoming ill from living in a home where meth is being manufactured or homes where meth was once manufactured. If the home they are living in is still contaminated by the toxic chemicals produced when someone made meth in it, they are at risk every day of developing illnesses that can damage them for life. Read more

Kalamazoo Michigan child goes to hospital for meth exposure

Thanks to a family member of a Kalamazoo Michigan 4 year old girl who was admitted to the hospital for breathing problems, the meth lab that put her there will be out of commission. Two days after the girl was admitted to the hospital, a family member told child protective services they thought her problem was due to a meth lab in her home. When child protective services arrived at the home, they found her mother in a bedroom beside an active meth lab. Read more

Battling Meth Labs and Meth Mouth in Kentucky

Dentists in Kentucky and states across the country know first hand how much damage meth can do to a person’s teeth. Some stories that I’ve read, tell tales of meth addicts, whose teeth have actually broken off while eating ice cream.

“His teeth crooked and blackened, Justin Baker is the face of another reason for Kentucky’s oral hygiene problems: methamphetamine use. They just rotted,” Mr. Baker, 16, said about the damage done in less than a year of drug use.” Read more

Next Page »