Phil Twyford & Peter Gluckman discuss meth testing.
A Christchurch mother who was forced out of her rental property is frustrated by a government report that shows there are no health risks in living in a meth-contaminated home.
Just last week Michelle Gilchrist was desperately searching for a place to live after her landlord kicked her out dueto her home being contaminated with meth.
But according to Minister of Housing and Urban Development Phil Twyford's report, released yesterday, there's no evidence that third-hand exposure from methamphetamine smoking causes adverse health effects.
Gilchrist said it was incredibly upsetting to hear as it contradicted everything she had been told in the past two weeks.
"I threw out beds, bedding, my baby's clothing, all the fabricated furniture like I was advised to, thousands of dollars worth of stuff, and now to hear I didn't need to is incredibly frustrating,"
"It would have been nice to have add this clarity before my whole life was being flipped upside down," Gilchrist said.
She said being led to believe false information was very frustrating.
"When you have meth testers telling you that the levels are so high that you're going to have to ditch this, that and the next thing, and then you get told that wasn't right you just don't know."
Gilchrist said had called dozens of agencies seeking advice and no one seemed to know anything.
"I went to police, the council, Ministry of Health - I have a long list of people I called and all of them said similar things - you should probably get rid of fabrics and fabricated furniture.
"My kids didn't present any symptoms but after hearing all of this I didn't want to take any risks."
In a bid to claim compensation Gilchrist has set a court date set with her landlord next month.
Twyford said he was concerned about the anxiety of meth contamination "and a testing and remediation industry has grown up around this".
The widely held perception was that the presence of even low levels of meth residue in a house posed a health risk to occupants, Twyford said.
He said the new report found that remediation according to the New Zealand Standard was appropriate only for identified former meth labs and properties where heavy meth use has been determined.
Twyford said pending Cabinet agreement, a public consultation document on meth regulations will be released later this year.
