EPA Releases Meth
Lab Cleanup Guide
Federal health experts in mid-October announced the
first national prototype on how to detoxify methamphetamine labs.
The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency invested $1.75 million over 24 months to
write the guide, which details ways to cleanse everything from carpets
to pipes to clothes in structures that formerly functioned as meth
labs.
Thirty
states currently do not require buildings housing former meth labs be
cleaned up before new residents take over. Kathy Marshall, an Illinois
Department of Public Health environmental toxicologist, was one of many
health experts selected by the EPA to provide input for the new federal
blueprint.
"We would
not recommend people try to do these cleanups on their own because of
the risk of exposures to hazardous chemicals," Marshall stated.
Nearly 67
percent of meth labs are in residential settings, notes the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration.
Here is
the link: