OU TO STUDY METH EFFECTS ON NEWBORNS

The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine in Tulsa has been
selected as one of six sites nationwide to study the troubling
effects of methamphetamine on newborn children.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse has funded the study with a
five-year, $6.57 million grant, said Penny Grant, a clinical
assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the OU College
of Medicine-Tulsa.

Grant, the study's principal investigator in Oklahoma, said OU's part
of the grant will be about $1 million. Oklahoma is among the top
three states, including California and Missouri, that are suffering
from a plague of meth labs and meth abuse, she said.

"The effects of meth on small children and the addict himself can
have horrible consequences in some cases," said Grant, who has
treated children exposed to clandestine meth operations. "Children
exposed to the drug in the fetus or those exposed to an active meth
lab develop an array of health and emotional difficulties."

Of the six sites selected to share the federal grant, Tulsa is
expected to enroll the largest number of meth-exposed babies in its
study, Grant said.

Last year local physicians and emergency room workers reported more
than 150 newborn and small children with symptoms of meth exposure.

Figures supplied by the Tulsa Police Department reveal that officers
encounter children in 35 percent of the meth lab raids they conduct.

Grant said the effects of meth on children as old as 5 years include
low birth weight, respiratory problems, fits of anger and sleeping
difficulties.

Many children tend to struggle with "sensory integration," which
means they dislike being touched or held, said Grant, who has been
recognized for her preliminary observations of children who were
exposed to toxic chemicals associated with methamphetamine production.

Other research sites included in the grant are the University of
Maryland, University of California-Los Angeles, University of Hawaii,
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles and Iowa Health System in
Des Moines.

The grant will be administered by the Emma Pendleton Bradley Hospital
and Brown Medical School in Providence, R.I.

The multiyear study will involve screening 27,000 infants in nine
hospitals across the United States.

To get a well-rounded study, the program will involve enrolling
newborn babies who have not been exposed to methamphetamine in
addition to those who have, Grant said.

Grant said mothers who have exposed their newborns to methamphetamine
will not be reported to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services
unless the child's life is in apparent danger or if other signs of
extreme abuse "are obvious."

"We want to enroll as many (meth) moms in the study as we can, and we
can't do that if they fear being turned in," said Grant, who also
works in the Tulsa Children's Justice Center at 2829 S. Sheridan Road.

Mothers who are struggling with meth addiction will be referred to
counseling and Narcotics Anonymous meetings, she said.