Habitable meth houses?

Meth components are volatile chemicals and acids that can burn flesh and damage internal organs. The active lab is a fire or explosion waiting to happen, while the finished product is a deadly, addictive substance that causes brain damage and violent behavior.

But after a lab is busted, once police seize the lab and its chemical components, “What you have for the most part is common household products: pseudoephedrine pills, drain cleaners, fuels and matchbooks,” said Ron Boyer, assistant director of health at the Springfield-Greene County Health Department. “The fact that they’ve combined those to cook meth hasn’t made some kind of extremely hazardous potion that contaminates the house forever.”

The science

The chemicals used in manufacturing meth are primarily in two categories.

“One is solvents – this would be like acetone, Coleman fuel, ether. Those are highly volatile and go away very quickly, dissipate almost completely,” Boyer said.

“The other category of chemical is bases and acids. This would be like lye that you use for drain cleaner or sulfuric acid, which is also used for drain cleaner, hydrochloric acid used for cleaning bricks or masonry,” he added.

These substances, while toxic, can be cleaned up and/or neutralized.

The Health Department is working to make sure that, once meth houses are cleaned, they are fit for human habitation.

“We have modified ... a city ordinance that allows us to placard a house if it’s not suitable for inhabitation. The placard says it can’t be reoccupied until we approve it as being properly cleaned,” Boyer said.

The Police Department has recently started reporting meth houses to the Health Department, which checks them for contamination and follows up to see that they are properly cleaned.

“We check for acid and base residues. And the other thing that we can do, if there are other questions, is take samples and test for methamphetamine itself. Methamphetamine has been designated as ... kind of the marker chemical. You can take a swab off the wall and do an analysis and determine if meth residue is there, which might be an indicator that there’s other contamination.”

The department has recently added a new gas chromatograph mass spectrophotometer that will allow it to do its own testing of meth lab residue, along with other public health and safety applications.

Chemist Amy Peebles has joined the Health Department staff and just underwent training on the new equipment. She joins Andee Coble and J.D. Slaughter on the cleanup monitoring team.

Approach with caution

The fact that former meth houses can be cleaned does not mean it’s a task to take lightly.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has published “Guidelines for Cleaning Up Former Methamphetamine Labs” to help property owners address the problem.

The first step is airing out the property and making sure it is well ventilated through cleanup.

DHSS recommends wearing gloves, long sleeves and eye protection. Absorbent materials such as carpeting, drapes, clothing, etc. should be disposed of. Porous surfaces like counters, walls, floors and ceilings can be cleaned, but if there is visible contamination or staining, these, too, should be removed.

To encourage volatile chemicals to dissipate, the windows and doors should be closed and the house heated to about 90 F for a few days, then aired out again. During this time, the property should remain off limits.

“If the carpet’s replaced, the walls are washed and everything’s cleaned up – some advocate cleaning the ductwork, and that’s fine, too – that generally will take care of the problem,” Boyer said.

[[In-content Ad]]