Stats:

Occupants: Two Adults and two children, a 44y/o female, 51y/o male, 7y/o male, 4y/o female
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Duration of Time in House: 8 years.
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Minimum Contamination level: <0.02μg/100cm² 
Maximum Contamination level: 245μg/100cm² 
Average Contamination level: 18.8μg/100cm² 

​Likely Source of Contamination was Manufacture

This case study involved a family of 2 adults and 2 children who purchased a suburban residential home 8 years ago and subsequently discovered it was contaminated with methamphetamine. Both their children were born while living at the property. Shortly after they had moved into the property, a neighbour told them the property had a drug history, however they dismissed this as unsubstantiated. The property had been well maintained and cleaned over the years. In addition, much of the property had been renovated and painted. Recent awareness of the potential presence of methamphetamine contamination from manufacture or use prompted the family to get the property tested. The initial sampling identified the property was contaminated and they moved out. The family found a newspaper article published about their home prior to their purchase of the home that indicated it was busted by police as a clandestine drug laboratory. The initial testing focused on timber that had not been painted or renovated, although this was not in areas that the family would come into contact with regularly. Further testing of surfaces that the family regularly touched, which had been repainted or were composed of new materials from renovations, was undertaken and little to no contamination was found. This case study did not find that the methamphetamine contamination was mobile or transferable within the property, which differs from many other properties presented here and may be due to the nature of the building materials in the home. 

Health Effects

23 of the 63 participants of this study reported health effects as indicated by levels of contamination reported in the purple section of the below chart. This means that the persons residing in this contaminated property may have suffered: Behavioural Issues, Heachaches, Sleep Disruption, Immune related disorder, Respiratory Issues, Eye issues and Skin irritation.  

The study states; "In terms of health effects reported by participants exposed in contaminated properties, these were consistently reported regardless of the source of the methamphetamine contamination. The only key difference in the health effects reported was a higher prevalence of eye and respiratory issues in properties known or suspected to have been contaminated from manufacture."

Hair Analysis Results:

The below table shows the results by person of the amount of methamphetamines and amphetamines located in hair analysis. These levels are from environmental contamination exposure only and not from direct methamphetamine use (Drug Use) or methamphetamine manufacture.

The study states "The analysis of hair samples collected from participants recently exposed in contaminated properties found methamphetamine above the quantitation limit (5 pg/mg) in 20 of the 36 participants sampled."

"For adults, methamphetamine was detected in hair in case studies where the mean environmental methamphetamine concentration was in the range 7.8 to 49 μg/100 cm2, which predominantly involved properties where clandestine drug manufacture was known or suspected to have occurred."

"The hair analysis data showed higher levels of exposure occurring in younger children, which is consistent with the expectation that younger children will have higher levels of exposures due to more common floor play, poorer washing of hands, and mouthing of hands and objects. In addition, young children have more porous hair than adults, which would make the hair more susceptible to environmental contamination."

"In relation to children, methamphetamine was detected in hair for case studies where the mean environmental methamphetamine concentration was in the range of 2.8 to 30.7 μg/100 cm2. The concentration of methamphetamine detected in the hair of children ranged from 6 to 980 pg/mg. This included properties contaminated as a result of both use and manufacture."

"The detection of methamphetamine, and in some cases amphetamine, in the analysis of hair samples from exposed participants...indicates that for some situations environmental exposure was sufficient to be able to be detected in the hair. This is not the case for all situations, as there were a number of participants for whom analysis of a hair sample could not detect methamphetamine." 

Person	Methamphetamine	Amphetamine
44y/o female	<5	<5
​51y/o male	<5	<5
​​7y/o male	​<5	​<5
​​4y/o female	​<5	​<5

Click this link to read the Research:  Environmental Methamphetamine Exposures and Health Effects in 25 Case Studies.

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