GOVERNMENT & POLICY

METHAMPHETAMINE POLLUTION Congress considers funding research to help guide the cleanup of illicit labs CHERYL HOGUE, C&EN WASHINGTON

ΤHEY GATHER THEIR RAW MATERI-

als. Cold medicines. Drain clean­er. Camp stove fuel. Lithium bat­teries. Matchbooks. Anhydrous ammonia, filched from a farm's

fertilizer supply These illicit drugmakers bring the in­

gredients to a residence, a hunting cabin in the woods, a motel room, or, in one recent case in Georgia, the men's room of a K-Mart. Following one of two main "recipes" learned through observing others or easi­ly found on the Internet, they concoct a steaming brew that renders the profitable street drug methamphetamine.

Known as meth, speed, ice, crank, or quartz, this illegal substance is a powerful stimulant of the central nervous system and can be swallowed, smoked, snorted, or injected.

The noxious stew that produces meth also yields by-products that can harm those who have no connection with manufac­turing or using this substance. Too often, meth gets cooked up in homes where chil­dren are present, and the youngsters are

exposed to sundry hazardous chemicals. Law officers busting a meth lab breathe in fumes from the operations, too.

A meth "cook," as making a batch is called, also contaminates the building where it takes place, posing potential hazards to the next occupants even if the structure gets washed down. Those who synthesize meth often dump the waste products onto soils—sometimes on property miles from the site of the makeshift lab.

When authorities close down a clan­destine meth site, there are no consistent guidelines for cleaning up the mess left be­hind. In fact, no one's quite sure what kinds of chemical waste are left in a building af­ter a meth cook. And states vary in how they go about cleaning up former meth labs.

This contamination is a growing prob­lem. In the past decade, thousands of makeshift meth labs have been found across the U.S. Rural areas in the nation's heart­land, including Missouri andTennessee, have had especially high numbers of meth lab busts in recent years, according to Drug En­forcement Administration ODEA) figures.

WASTED Police and Drug Enforcement Administration agents in 2004 found many toxic chemicals at an illicit methamphetamine laboratory in North Bend, Ohio.

Congress is working to remedy this situ­ation. Earlier this month, the House Science Committee approved a bill, H.R. 798, that would establish a federal research program at the Environmental Protection Agency on the health effects associated with meth labs. It would direct EPA to determine which chemicals are present and detectable at meth labs, study the adverse health effects at for­mer and current meth labs, and evaluate the effectiveness of cleanup techniques.

THE LEGISLATION, which enjoys biparti­san support, would also direct EPA, in con­sultation with the National Institute of Stan­dards & Technology to draw up guidelines for states and localities to follow when clean­ing up an illicit lab. The bill would author­ize federal spending on this work of up to $3 million annually for EPA and $1.5 million annually for NIST in the next four years, though congressional appropriators would determine the actual funding level.

House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-N.Y.), who cosponsored H.R. 798, says: "We know a great deal about the direct risks associat­ed with meth use, but we don't know much about the indirect effects of the drug, namely the contamination that remains after a meth lab is shut down.

"This is a serious issue," he continues, "because a typical meth lab is not some ster­ile laboratory environment with test tubes, beakers, and fancy equipment. Rather, it is generally an apartment, motel room, or other residence, which maybe reoccupied by a family who is completely unaware that their home was once the site of a meth lab."

Boehlert's committee held a hearing on H.R. 798 on March 3. There, academics, law enforcement officials, and others told the panel about the need for the federal government to support research on meth lab cleanups.

One witness at the hearing, John W. Martyny, associate professor of medicine and an industrial hygienist at the Nation­al Jewish Medical & Research Center in Denver, has studied chemical exposures

'Very high levels of toxic chemicals are produced during methamphetamine cooks. Hazardous chemical exposures can be expected to persist... for an extended period of time." H T T P : / / W W W . C E N - O N L I N E . O R G C & E N / M A R C H 2 8 , 2 0 0 5 2 5

GOVERNMENT & POLICY

associated with clandestine production of meth. He was part of a research team that measured emissions while DEA chemists and agents conducted controlled metham­phetamine cooks.

"Our research has indicated that very high

levels of toxic chemicals are produced dur­ing methamphetamine cooks," he said in written testimony "Hazardous chemical ex­posures can be expected to persist in rooms and buildings for an extended period of time."

One of the two major methods used by il-

C L A N D E S T I N E C H E M I S T R Y

Legislators, Drug Companies Try To Keep Cough Syrup Out Of Meth Production

The number of small, clandestine lab­oratories making methamphetamine in the U.S. has mushroomed in recent

years, particularly in western, southwest­ern, and midwestern states. Last year, ac­cording to the National Clandestine Labora­tory Database at the El Paso Intelligence Center, authorities seized 15,994 metham­phetamine labs, dump sites, or meth-mak-ing equipment in 49 states. That's up from 7,438 seizures in 43 states in 1999.

One way authorities are trying to thwart these mom-and-pop methamphetamine operations is by cutting off their supply of pseudoephedrine, which is used as a start­ing material.

Pseudoephedrine—an active ingredient in Sudafed, NyQuil, and sev­eral other over-the-count­er decongestants—can be made into methampheta­mine via a simple reduc­tion reaction, according to Shawn R. Hitchcock, an associate professor of or­ganic chemistry at Illinois State University, Normal. Hitchcock says that this reaction "can be easily carried out on a large scale without much difficulty in the hands of a properly trained person."

Last year, Oklahoma became the first state to classify pseudoephedrine as a Schedule V drug, and several other states have either passed or are consid­ering similar legislation. The new classi­fication means that Sudafed and other medicines that contain the compound can only be purchased from a pharma­cist. Consumers are limited to 9 g of pseudoephedrine in a 30-day period, and they must show identification and sign a logbook when they buy the medication.

Pfizer, the company that makes Sudafed, introduced a pseudoephedrine-

X C H 3

Methamphetamine

OH

O^ CHa

Pseudoephedrine

OH

Phenylephrine

free decongestant called Sudafed PE in late 2004. Sudafed PE uses phenyl­ephrine, a decongestant patented in 1933, as its active ingredient. Pfizer has sold a phenylephrine-based deconges­tant in the U.K. for several years.

Pfizer scientists Dennis Nelson and Mike Nichols explain that, although the two molecules are structurally similar, phenylephrine has a two-carbon chain whereas pseudoephedrine has a three-carbon chain with an extra stereogenic center. That extra methyl group is key to methamphetamine's pharmacological ef­

fects, the scientists say. H From a chemical

standpoint, it's not hard for an amateur chemist to reduce phenylephrine, Nichols explains, "but the addition of that third car­bon onto the chain in phenylephrine isn't easy."

"The chemical conver­sion [of phenylephrine to methamphetamine] would involve multiple steps—oxidation, alkyla-tion, reduction, etcetera—that cannot be accomplished with sim­ple, readily available ma­

terials," Hitchcock adds. Rogene Waite, of the Drug Enforce­

ment Administration's Public Affairs Of­fice, tells C&EN that phenylephrine "cannot readily serve as a precursor to make any controlled substances."

Although it is adding more phenyl­ephrine-based products to its line of de­congestants, Pfizer has no plans to take the pseudoephedrine-based medicines off the market. Also, the new deconges­tant is a bit more expensive than the original. According to Pfizer, a 24-dose bottle of the original Sudafed costs the same as an 18-dose bottle of Sudafed PE.-BETHANY HALFORD

\ CH.

legal drugmakers to synthesize meth involves anhydrous ammonia and a reactive metal, usually lithium or sodium, Martyny contin­ued. This production pathway generates va­pors that include solvents, hydrogen chlo­ride, and methamphetamine aerosols, as well as caustic anhydrous ammonia

A second meth production route uses red phosphorus, Martyny said. This process leads to significant exposures to solvents, phosphine, airborne iodine, hydrogen chlo­ride, and aerosols of methamphetamine.

Since there are no fume hoods or other safety devices at most illicit labs, anyone near the cook will be exposed to these chemicals.

Airborne meth levels can reach as high as 5,000 μg per m3 during a cook. This, Martyny said, "almost ensures that anyone in the vicinity of the cook will test posi­tive for methamphetamine," including ba­bies and children. Some children taken from homes that were used as meth labs may show permanent damage to their res­piratory tracts and possibly to their ner­vous systems, he said.

Methamphetamine aerosols can deposit on surfaces inside a structure that are far from the actual cooking area, with levels as high as 16,000 μg per 100 cm2 found in houses formerly used to produce the sub­stance, Martyny continued. His research team has found houses with levels of meth as high as 300 μg per 100 cm2 for as long as six months after the last cook.

"Virtually all items within the house, as well as all people, pets, toys, etcetera, be­come contaminated with methampheta­mine," he said. In one of the controlled ex­periments with DEA, done at a hotel, Martyny's research team found that the walls, floors, ceiling, and carpeting of rooms adjoining the one used for the actual cook became "extremely contaminated."

The type of protective gear—if any— used bylaw enforcement officers and emer­gency responders entering a meth lab site varies across jurisdictions, Martyny said. In some areas, they don masks attached to air tanks and wear chemical-protective "moon suits" when they are in a meth lab, he said. Other jurisdictions use no special equip­ment. Yet others switch from air-supply tanks to face masks with filters after an ini­tial assessment of the situation.

"These inconsistencies are due to a lack of information from scientifically based studies of the exposure risks," Martyny said.

This dearth of data leads to inconsistent medical treatment of those exposed to chem­icals at meth labs, who often complain of burning in the eyes, nose, and throat, he said.

Then there is the waste generated by the illicit manufacture of meth. Robert R.

2 6 C & E N / M A R C H 2 8 , 2 0 0 5 HTTP: / /WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG

Bell, president of Tennessee Technologi­cal University, said at the hearing that the process creates about 5 lb of hazardous waste for each pound of meth produced.

Gary Howard, sheriff of Tioga County, N.Y, told the committee that meth labs produce two types of waste: a solid sludge and a liquid. The meth makers often dump these wastes into sink, drains, or into the soil, he said.

Sherry Green, executive director of the National Alliance for Model State Drug Laws, told the committee that when it comes to cleanup of meth labs, states em­ploy a wide spectrum of remediation prac­tices. Some use minimal procedures, such as airing out the structure and allowing own-

IN THE BAG A sample of methamphetamine crystals.

ers of the property to use household clean­ers to remove residues. Other states follow detailed procedures, including a preliminary site assessment, specific decontamination processes, and follow-up testing, she said.

THE CLEANUPS can be costly. Bell said that, in Tennessee, removal and handling of evidence and hazardous waste from a meth lab seized by authorities can cost be­tween $5,000 and $20,000 per site. And restoration of the site can cost tens of thou­sands of dollars more, he said.

Henry L. Hamilton, assistant commis­sioner for public protection at the New Ifork Department of Environmental Con­servation, told the committee that some­times, the cost of cleaning up a former meth lab site may exceed the market val­ue of the property This leaves the owner of the property—or the state, if it has seized the land—in the lurch financially.

Ήί , Bell noted, "a baseline definition of what 'clean' is, in terms of remediating labs, is not available." Martyny added that the best ways to clean up a house or other struc­ture after a meth cook remain unknown.

Bill sponsor and House Science Com­mittee ranking member Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) says the research that H.R. 798 would authorize will help states address meth lab cleanup issues.

In addition, the bill would support re­search to develop field test kits that law enforcement officers could use to detect meth labs—and help them get search war­rants more quickly Bell said long-term re­search on meth detection technologies could lead to devices similar to smoke de­

tectors that would emit signals if they sense airborne methamphetamine. These could be installed in homes, motels, or college dorms, he added.

A spokesman for Republicans on the Science Commit tee tells C&EN the prospects for H.R. 798 to move quickly through the House are very good, given the broad support from both Republicans and Democrats.

"It is a sensible, targeted bill," Boehlert says. •

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