Failure To Decontaminate Homes Busted As Meth Labs Shocks Subsequent Homeowners

In Jefferson County, Missouri, the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports:

• Jason Dowdell and Michelle DiLorenzo thought the three-bedroom ranch along a quiet, winding Jefferson County road would be the perfect place to start their life together. They envisioned a nursery in one bedroom. Toys in the backyard. Perennials in the planters. But all that was put on hold two years later when they learned the home was contaminated with enough methamphetamine residue to be condemned in more than a dozen states.

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• The Post-Dispatch tested five homes police busted for meth and where new families are living. [...] Months and, in some cases, years had passed since meth labs in the homes were busted, according to police reports. The tests revealed residue levels in all five homes high enough to be condemned in 13 of the 18 states.

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• Cleanup companies along with national and local health experts say it's common for meth labs that haven't been cleaned to test positive for residue — no matter how long after police busts. "It doesn't just go away over time," said Michael Frakes, who co-owns Chicago Crime Scene Cleanup LLC, a company the newspaper commissioned to collect samples.

• The newspaper's findings shocked the residents, who said they did not know they were living in former meth labs until they were contacted by the Post-Dispatch.

For more, see Are you living in a former meth lab? (if link expires, try here).

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