KIDS TAKEN FROM METH-LAB HOMES SHOW INTERNAL LEVELS OF DRUG

Health: Experts Say Exposure To The Substance And Chemicals Used To Make It
Can Cause Great Harm.

Orange-About one-fourth of all children taken from meth-lab homes since
January have methamphetamine, chemicals used to make the drug or other
dangerous substances in their systems, preliminary test results show.

"We suspect that when all the tests are in, the numbers will be higher,"
Walter Allen, special agent in charge for the Bureau of Narcotics
Enforcement said Monday.

Officials are not sure what the results mean yet, but they're not optimistic.

"It can't be good," Allen said. "Some have compared exposure to these
chemicals to inhaling second-hand smoke - or worse."

An earlier report by the California Council on Criminal Justice says
exposure can harm the brain, liver, kidneys, lungs and eyes. It also can
cause learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral problems, or even death.

Six of 26 children tested positive for more than trance amount of dangerous
substances, officials said. Doctors found cyanide in one child,
methamphetamine in five others, said Linda Pierog, who oversees the program
for Children's Hospital of Orange County.

Hospital officials began testing children at the beginning of the year,
after the Orange County Drug Endangered Children task force, one of three
in the state, began removing them from their parents' homes and placing
them in Orangewood. About 30 of 130 labs had children living in them.

Special agent Gary Hudson said the children might have gotten the drug in
their systems because parents sometimes leave the chemicals in the
refrigerator, near food, or sometimes use baby bottles to mix methamphetamine.

Van Nuys epidemiologist Kathleen West, working with the task force, said
the effects on children could be worse over time than for adults.

"We are very much at the beginning of studying this problem," she said. "We
don't even have a good method of tracking it. We just don't know."

Checked-by: Richard Lake