DOCTORS CALL FOR FOCUS ON METH KIDS

WASHINGTON Two weeks after Congress moved to crack down on methamphetamine
cooks, pediatricians urged lawmakers Monday not to forget about children,
"the silent victims" of the drug.

About a third of the busts of home meth labs include children, who are
often found hungry, filthy and living environments so toxic that
authorities have to wear respirators and Hazmat suits as they lead them out.

Their teddy bears and other toys coated with noxious chemicals, have to be
left behind.

"What I saw was neglect beyond anything I had ever seen," said Penny Grant,
a pediatrician who responded to meth cases in Tulsa, Okla. "These kids had
not seen the inside of a bathtub in weeks."

The purpose of Monday's meeting on Capitol Hill was to brief congressional
aides on the ravages of meth on families. Meth is a highly addictive
stimulant that can lead to paranoia, crime and violence.

Several participants said children stuck in meth households had received
scant attention from lawmakers focused on passing legislation that limits
the sale of pseudoephedrine used to cook the drug.

The group showed scores of photos where meth and other chemicals were
strewn about a home, hidden in a child's night stand, kept in the fridge
beside baskets of strawberries and even stored in bottles of soda.

Meth lab fires and explosions are common, sometimes leaving children
scarred with chemical burns, they said at the meeting organized by the
American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Obstetricians
and Gynecologists.

But what happens to the physical and mental development of children who
inhale or accidentally ingest meth chemicals is less known.

About one-half of the children found in meth households have traces of the
drug in their system, experts said.

The pediatricians called for greater research into the long-term effects of
the drug, as well as national standards for the clean-up of labs.

Legislation signed by President Bush earlier this month limits individual
purchases of pseudoephedrine, which must now be stored behind a pharmacy
counter or inside a locked cabinet under the law.

The law also makes it easier for authorities to track international bulk
shipments of pseudoephedrine to countries such as Mexico, where meth super
labs have spurred the U.S. epidemic even as the number of domestic labs has
fallen.