OFFICERS CONCERNED ABOUT LABS EFFECTS - DAY 3C

Some drug agents say fumes from methamphetamine chemicals cause health
problems, from headaches to rare illnesses.

Riverside County sheriff Detective Carla Gordon never considered
wearing protective equipment while examining toxic chemicals in the
countless methamphetamine labs she investigated during the 1980s.

Protective masks and boots, now standard equipment for drug officers,
were unheard of. In those days, recognizing the unique odors of the
chemical ingredients was a key part of the job.

Back then, that's how we identified some of the chemicals, Gordon
said. The precautions we took were more for the fire hazard or
explosions, not for the fumes.

Gordon said she commonly experienced headaches and irritated lungs
during and immediately after working in drug labs.

In 1990, Gordon began to suffer migraine headaches and vision
problems. After numerous examinations by physicians, she was diagnosed
with a rare condition known as orbital pseudo tumor, an accumulation
of lymphoid tissue that damaged the muscles surrounding her eye.
Doctors have been unable to say for certain what caused the ailment.
Nonetheless, Gordon is among a growing number of current and former
narcotics agents who suspect they were unwitting victims of the
chemical hazards found in drug labs.

Once it was identified what it was, I suspected that there was a
connection, Gordon said.

Fumes from the brew of toxic chemicals used to make methamphetamine
chemicals like benzene, red phosphorous, acetone, iodine and countless
others can poison respiratory and nervous systems, even in the short
term.

The long-term health hazards, largely unknown, are of even greater
concern to narcotics officers charged with finding and investigating
toxic drug labs.

Virtually all law enforcement officers either know personally or have
heard stories of officers who developed rare and inexplicable
illnesses resulting in permanent disability and ruined careers.

You have just all types of avenues of exposure that people don't
realize, said Jim Erwin, president of the San Bernardino County
Safety Employees Association, which represents sheriffsdeputies. We
will probably in the future seek special hazardous-duty compensation
for those who work in meth labs because of the chemical exposure and
the higher risk.

During the 1980s, before the drugs epidemic popularity, relatively
little was known about the hazards posed by inhaling or touching the
methamphetamine ingredients.

We all know the dangers now, said Sgt. Steve Rinks, a narcotics
investigator with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department, whose
first job with the drug unit lasted from 1986 to 1989. Unfortunately,
back in the 80s this is something that was new to us.

In those days, it was common for officers to transport the drug
chemicals in the back seats of their cars.

Detective Gordon, now 44, spearheaded probes of methamphetamine and
PCP labs for the department from 1984 to 1989.

After the diagnosis of her eye condition, she underwent exploratory
surgery and a medley of experimental treatments, but she still suffers
from headaches and limited peripheral vision.

She considers herself fortunate that the condition has not ended her
21-year law-enforcement career.

It's essentially like with a lot of injuries or disabilities. I've
just learned to compensate, Gordon said.

Former San Bernardino County sheriff's narcotics Detective Mike Howell
wasn't so lucky.

Howell was forced to take medical retirement in 1996 after being
diagnosed with a severe respiratory illness that reduced his lung
capacity to less than 50 percent.

Doctors could not definitively say what caused the
condition.

But Howell, who worked in methamphetamine and PCP labs, smoke-filled
jails and commercial chemical dumps, has no doubt that it was caused
by his job.

In 1996, a workers' compensation judge and a county retirement board
agreed with him. Howell was awarded a one-time five-figure settlement
and half of his salary and full medical benefits for the rest of his
life.

Benefits panels have taken similar positions elsewhere in the
country.

Between 1990 and 1996, four Portland, Ore., police officers won
workers' compensation cases resulting from illnesses the officers
argued had been caused by exposure to methamphetamine labs during the
1980s.

Three of the officers developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of
cancer, while the other was diagnosed with a lung disease.

Each of these claims had a medical report from a doctor indicating
that it was probable that the condition was caused by the work, said
Julie Leonard, assistant administrator of the Portland Fire and Police
Disability and Retirement Fund.

Many Portland officers who worked with methamphetamine labs during the
1980s routinely complained of such symptoms as skin rashes, headaches,
coughing and peculiar tastes in their mouths, Leonard said.

The Portland workers' compensation awards are not the norm nationwide.
Panels in other communities have been less generous.

Retired Los Angeles Police Department narcotics supervisor Roy
Wunderlich was diagnosed in 1997 with a rare form of liver cancer that
resulted in the removal of half of his liver.

Wunderlich, 56, said he was among the first Los Angeles officers to
specifically target manufacturers of methamphetamine during the late
1970s and early 1980s.

Everyone had headaches and dizziness, he recalled of the meth
raids.

I'd had a handful of exposures where I received medical attention.
There are several times where I probably should have had medical
attention, but I didn't.

For the past two years, Wunderlich has fought to recover more than
$200,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses. He also wants the city of
Los Angeles to fund lifetime medical benefits.

Since medical experts on both sides of the issue hesitate to directly
link cancers to specific job exposures, Los Angeles city officials
dispute the claim that Wunderlich's cancer can be definitively linked
to his time on the force.

Still, he wants to see more done to protect his former colleagues.
Officers who work with drug labs should receive more thorough health
screenings, Wunderlich said. Currently, narcotics officers in many
California departments undergo annual blood, urine and lung tests.

But the baseline screenings don't go far enough, Wunderlich
said.

I had a complete physical several months before I was diagnosed, he
said, noting that the baseline screening didn't detect his potentially
life-threatening illness.

Mike Baker, a drug agent with the state Bureau of Narcotic
Enforcement's Redding office, also had a clean baseline physical weeks
before he was diagnosed with thymoma, another rare form of cancer.
Baker, 41, had a baseball-sized tumor removed from behind his heart.
He, too, has been fighting to recover workers' compensation benefits
for the injury, which he believes stems from his 12 years of
investigating methamphetamine labs.

The whole issue is proving that a certain chemical caused that
particular cancer, Baker said. It's very difficult.

Dan Stralka, regional toxicologist for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's San Francisco office, said researchers have just
started examining the effects of long-term exposure to chemicals found
in meth labs.

But clearly, the hazards of breathing some of the chemicals, like
benzene, a known human carcinogen, are real, he said.

These law-enforcement personnel weren't measuring the level of
toxins, and they weren't taking appropriate precautions, so their
level of exposure and what hazard could be associated with that would
generally be unknown, Stralka said.

In the future, narcotics officers may have an easier time winning
their injury cases.

Two state laws passed in 1999 require that cities and counties bear
the burden of proving that cancers among police officers with more
than five years on the job were not caused by the work.

In San Bernardino County, sheriff's narcotics officers began
undergoing baseline physicals about four months after Detective Howell
took his medical retirement. Like other departments throughout the
state, local officers are trained and equipped to protect themselves
from the hazards of chemical contaminants.

No amount of protection is foolproof, however. Often the demands of
the job , including pursuing suspects inside meth labs, mean officers
go unprotected into the harmful vapors for brief periods of time.

Other times, officers exploring crime scenes at seemingly safe
distances from chemicals later realize they were too close.

I get cramps when I go to one of these labs, said Lt. Bobby
Phillips, commander of the sheriff's Methamphetamine Interdiction
Team. One of our guys starts sneezing.

San Bernardino police narcotics Sgt. Mitch Kimball sees similar
symptoms.

I think every one of us goes out of there with a headache after one
of these things, he said.

For those who work around drug labs, thinking of the potential health
effects can be unnerving.

Some officers become anxious at the first hint of a strange twinge or
unusual illness as they learn more about the hazards of the chemicals
that have surrounded them for years.

Every time you get any type of a symptom of something that is out of
the ordinary, that's usually the first thing that you fear,94 Gordon
said.

Aldrin Brown can be reached by e-mail at abrown@pe.com.