METH LAB DANGERS LINGER LONG AFTER THE BUST IS MADE

Wherever methamphetamine is cooked, it becomes a dangerous toxic
chemical dump site.

That's how Eric Pessel, environmental health director for Eaton
County, looks on any dwelling where the highly addictive drug is manufactured.

He is supporting a proposed law to create a statewide criteria for
meth lab clean-ups.

State Sen. Patti Birkholz (R-Saugatuck) and State Rep. Rick Jones
(R-Grand Ledge) announced Monday they were co-sponsors of a new set
of laws to be used as ammunition in the war on methamphetamine.

Eaton County is the only county in Michigan to condemn a dwelling
where the "meth" is created and require a clean-up before it can be
occupied again.

Pessel said he is using a clean-up standard created by the state of
Colorado. Those rules allow the health department to inspect and
monitor former lab sites in the county.

Some 12 dwellings in the Eaton County have been shut down in recent
months after meth labs were raided, and landlords are being forced to
make drastic decisions.

"Some are in the situation where have to spend tens of thousands of
dollars to do a clean-up, or they have to demolish the structure," Pessel said.

The clandestine labs have also been found in cars, trailers, trucks
and hotel rooms, and you never know where they will occur.

Pessel said one couple rented a nice house in a rural part of the
county. "Their tenant was a nice guy, but he went through a divorce
and his new girl friend was a meth user. The owners didn't discover
the situation until the tenant missed a rent payment, and they went
to find out what was going on," Pessel said.

"At that point, it was too late. Now they are pondering their
alternatives ... an expensive clean-up or completely gut the area
where the lab was located," he said.

In Ingham County, narcotics investigators have called the health
department in to condemn dwellings, but the practice ceased a few
years ago because clean-up standards and manpower to monitor the
former lab sites or verify clean-ups was unavailable.

Jim Wilson, director of environmental health for Ingham County, said,
"We have been waiting for standards to be created."

"Sometimes chemicals used in making of meth are poured down the
drain, or flushed down the toilet, and the chemicals go into a septic
tank. What do you do about that? We need standards for that," he said.

Once a lab is discovered, the county's environmental health
department quarantines the site, and requires a clean-up. Once the
cleaning is finished, it has to be approved by a certified
environmental inspector.

Pessel calls a meth lab, "a toxic time bomb."

Highly flammable solvents, dangerous acids and explosive mixes are
created in the cooking process, leaving a methamphetamine residue
throughout a dwelling.

Investigators and health department employees have to wear EPA
approved protective suits before entering an area where meth has been cooked.

The new laws, announced Monday, will also focus on protecting
children from the effects of meth. The legislation would require the
state Department of Human Services to partner with state authorities
to refer a child's exposure to meth to the prosecutor as a child abuse case.