MORE KIDS EXPOSED TO METH-LAB POISON

Kristie Ferguson was sleeping in her bed when Tempe police found her
Thursday, with her infant daughter by her side next to the methamphetamine.

In Phoenix the same night, detectives found a 4-year-old child and a baby in
a home where adults were cooking meth in the garage. The odor in the garage
was so strong that a detective collapsed. Officials say there's a good
chance the same vapors had seeped into the home where the children were.

It's a growing problem: More Arizona children are living in or near the
potentially toxic environment of methamphetamine labs, officials say. Last
year in Phoenix alone, children were present in at least half the city's 119
meth lab busts. In even more cases, children likely had been exposed to the
chemicals some time before the bust.

"There is some grave danger to children in these situations," said Flora
Sotomayor, program administrator for Child Protective Services. "Clearly,
they're in a hazardous situation."

In response to the problem, the state Attorney General's Office has formed a
partnership with CPS and law enforcement agencies to prosecute parents for
child abuse and to help children found at meth labs get the medical care
they need.

"You're taking a body that's trying to grow and you're putting it in a
totally toxic environment," said Capt. John Teefy of the Phoenix Fire
Department's hazardous materials team. "This stuff is poison. . . . The
smaller you are, the less your body can handle."

Short-term exposure to methamphetamine can cause breathing trouble,
disorientation and seizures, Teefy said. As the chemicals build up in the
body, the results can damage the brain and central nervous system and the
liver and kidneys. Some doctors speculate that meth exposure also could
stunt bone growth.

Typically, officials responsible for cleaning up meth labs won't even go in
without protective gear.

On top of that, the chemicals used to manufacture meth are extremely
explosive, creating a potentially deadly fire danger. Chemicals can seep
into food stored next to them in a refrigerator. Vapors can seep into the
walls or rise into the attic, where heating and cooling ducts spread them
throughout the home. Residue can be dropped onto carpets where little feet
walk, or washed out in the kitchen sink, where it mingles with dishes
touched by little hands.

Teefy has seen children's sleeping bags in the same room were meth is
cooked.

In the bust Thursday in Phoenix, in the 2400 block of West Paradise Lane,
detectives found clean glassware, funnels and lab materials sitting on a
kitchen counter. Children's clothes and diapers weren't too far away. Four
bags of lab trash were outside near the street.

All of this could affect the children 10 years down the road, but nobody
knows yet exactly how.

"That's the big question for us in the future," Phoenix police Sgt. Don
Steinmetz said. "Remember the crack baby syndrome? This is an unknown,
developing syndrome."