There's been a lot of talk of late in
relation to the contamination caused to
property by the use and production of
methamphetamine. Now while the testing of
properties for contamination might be
something quite new here in Australia.
You only need look at our
neighbours in New Zealand, who have been
actively testing properties for some time.
To see how things will likely progress moving forward
Now while testing the properties
will largely be focused on rental
properties. There is a growing trend for
houses to be tested when being sold as
part of the contract for sale.. being
subject to the passing of a meth test.
Luckily Steven from OCTIEF, a meth testing company,
reached out to help explain the process
and was kind enough to sit down on camera.
Enjoy! So contamination can come from
the tenants of a property operating an
illegal drug lab or it can come
from long-term exposure to people
smoking meth or ice the property as
well. Historically, I guess most people are
only aware of contamination coming from
drug labs so certainly there's a lot of
focus there and that's what we get
engaged quite often is where there's a
known contamination issue from a drug lab.
But certainly as people are becoming more aware of
the health risks with smoking meth in a
property and the residue left behind.
That's by and far a larger portion of
our testing these days. In our business
in New Zealand across our 5 branches there
we see over fifty percent of the tests
come back as positive to some level of
contamination now that's not all of them
above a safe or below a safe level that's
a presence in around fifty percent.
In Australia it's probably higher, because
it's probably around eighty percent
positive hits in Australia, now that's not
necessarily because there's more use in
Australia but probably from where our
inquiries are coming from, where people
are testing on suspicion of tenants or a
previous occupant using the drug in the
property.
Historically the positive rate was
much higher because it was done around
suspicion testing but as the market
it's adopted more of a proactive
screening approach, that's where we've seen
the positives come down around that fifty
percent at the moment. Of that fifty
percent, of the fifty percent around
fifty percent of those have exceeded
the safe guidelines. So approximately
twenty-five percent of what we tested
have come back at levels that exceed the
health base standards. Well the chemical can
be detected after a single use in the
property but it builds up over time. So
it's usually longer term exposure from
tenants or property tenants smoking meth
that creates a high level of
contamination. Given the nature of the
drug's high toxicity levels will leave
more residue than lower toxicity levels
and certainly exposure over time and
depending on how they've ventilated the property
and everything else.
So there's a lot of variables there as to
whether it's 1 or 10 or 20 or 100 times the requirement.
The Australian government has
released the clandestine drug lab
remediation guidelines which is a very
strict approach to remediating for both
methamphetamine residue as
well as other precursor chemicals that are
carcinogens in the property. So depending
on the level of contamination determines
the remediation method and there's no
one single approach to remediation. We
are talking about residue from smoking ICE on the
property, in lower levels of
contamination a detailed clean can often
remove the residue, in high levels
of contamination it needs a deconstruction
so we're talking about stripping out
interior fittings, but the residue binds itself to
soft furnishings so at a
minimum level we remove carpet or you'd advise
removal of carpets, fans, anything
that circulates air through the property
and then deal with other hard surfaces
depending on how they treated, so if their
more pores they might need to be removed
but if they well sealed it might mean
that we can do a surface clean. Under the
Australian clandestine laboratory
remediation guidelines, anything above point
five micrograms per hundred square
centimeters
needs to be remediated. When we're
talking about contamination from a
non-drug lab scenario which one's been
smoking meth in a property... We look to our
neighboring partners such as New
Zealand, have done studies and it's
usually anything around 1.5 to 2
micrograms per hundred square
centimeters anything, above that level is
deemed to be unsafe in New Zealand.
Australia doesn't have the same level of
regulations of screening for properties
for meth contamination from use that
New Zealand does. There are standards
around what the screening looks like...
And they're being developed at the moment
being workshopped into the market but
there is an expectation such as... same as
in Australia that landlords provide
properties in safe and habitable
conditions and that's being tested
through some court challenges in New
Zealand. In Australia we've seen a lot more
demand for the screening service that
we've been offering and I think that it
won't be dictated by the government so
much as the public will start to adopt
over time as they become more aware of
what chemical residue contamination
risks posed for their families. We
see issues such as children
exhibiting ADHD or attention ... or
problems with focusing attention. Longer
term exposure can cause damage to organs
such as kidneys and livers and
we also are aware that it can cause
reproductive issues such as birth
defects and miscarriages as well. Cleaners
quote from a couple thousand dollars
for a clean of a property at low levels
of contamination right through to where
there is deconstruction and reinstatement
required up to a hundred to two hundred
thousand dollars on more sophisticated
homes.
Typically we can offer a screening
service for around five hundred and fifty
dollars per property... and that's for a
standard three to four bedroom style home
which will establish if there is some
baseline residue left in the property. If
you talking about a more detailed
investigation for a clandestine laboratory
it starts at a few thousand
dollars given the scientific nature of
that testing as well. From the time we
arrive on site to getting laboratory
results back it's typically a five-day
turnaround
time. If your are interested in screening of a
property to determine say a baseline
level of contamination the best way to
do that is to jump onto our website
www.screenformeth.com.au where you can organise
a baseline test.
And that'll allow you to establish
whether there is or isn't any meth
contamination already in a property. If you're talking
about a known or suspected drug lab
scenario or known if there's been police
activity there... you're better off calling OCTIEF
directly to engage one of our
occupational scientists, because that
level of testing is far more detailed.
If you want to learn more about what OCTIEF
does and how to get in contact with them...
there will be a link in the description. click here for
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