P house children's exposure similar to users - study

A police scientist checking 'P' lab equipment. File photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Children who live in houses which contain 'P' labs have similar exposure levels to the drug as adult users, a Environmental Science and Research (ESR) study of hair samples shows.

The study used hair samples from 36 children, aged between two months and 16 years, who had lived in houses which contained a 'P' lab and compared the levels of methamphetamine found with adult users.

Eighty-nine per cent tested positive for methamphetamine, and levels of the drug found in the hair samples were similar to adult users.

ESR toxicologist and lead researcher Tom Bassindale said he was surprised at the number of children who tested positive to exposure to methamphetamine.

"I didn't think they'd be exposed for as long a period as the research suggests. We often analysed six months of hair growth and detected methamphetamine in all of that hair," Dr Bassindale said.

The levels of the drug found in children's hair was also surprising, with the highest reading found in a child and not an adult, he said.

Testing hair samples was often the only way which exposure to the drug could be tested.

"With blood and urine, you'd only be able to detect methamphetamine for 12-24 hours after exposure. Hair samples can show exposure to methamphetamine after a much longer period."

Test results could be used by police in cases of child neglect and ESR's testing service was used by the legal sector on both sides of the Tasman as it was the only laboratory in Australasia.

University of Auckland senior lecturer of psychological medicine Trecia Wouldes said children came in to contact with the drug in a number of ways including accidentally ingesting the products used in its manufacture and through breathing fumes.

- NZPA