New Methamphetamine Testing Guidelines

There have been a lot of public concerns on the safety of the lives of occupants in houses where methamphetamine has been detected with Methamphetamine Testing. The houses that were previously occupied by those producing or smoking meth have been found to contain meth particles still.

The chances of the particles remaining in the house increases if the ducts of the building are not properly cleaned. The effects of meth exposure to the occupants of the house can be subtle at first and then increase in severity.

The effects usually occur long before the occupants are aware of the house being contaminated with methamphetamine. The symptoms of methamphetamine exposure are similar to the symptoms of respiratory illnesses. They include watery, red and burning eyes, skin irritations, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, hallucination, moderate or a severe headache.

Testing of houses for methamphetamine exposure has become imperative if the health effects of its exposure are to be prevented. A new NZS 8510:2007 Testing and documentation on Methamphetamine contaminated properties standard has been created according to Housing Minister Nick Smith.

According to the minister, the new standard was a huge step forward in providing solutions to tackle the effects of methamphetamine contamination of houses. The new standard will be able to allay the fears of homeowners as well as the occupants of the houses. The standard was release on 29 Jun 2017.

Methamphetamine Testing Improved

A couple of things were improved upon in the new standard, but the most notable change was the limit. The limit of methamphetamine was increased from 0.5 micrograms per hundred centimeters squared in the old guideline to 1.5 micrograms per hundred centimeters squared.

The standard includes efforts to manage the risks to health, well-being, and the environment. These risks sprout from methamphetamine contaminated chemicals and materials used to manufacture methamphetamine.

According to the Minister, the better understanding of the health risks of methamphetamine exposure informed the new standard. He went on to say that the new standard will save a lot of money that would have been wasted in trying to decontaminate already occupied houses. It will also prevent the vacation of houses due to contamination.

The owner of Tauranga rentals, Dan Lusby said that the new standards would inform intending occupants of a house if the house were safe to live in or not. It will hopefully reduce the health effects of methamphetamine exposure as well as give tenants the assurance of their house being safe. Mr. Lusby called on government bodies to take control of the testing to ensure the effectiveness of this new standard. He, however, encouraged landlords and property owners to carry out this testing in the meantime.

Insurance Council Support The New Standard

The new standard for methamphetamine testing and sampling was also supported by the Insurance Council of New Zealand. According to the Insurance Council operations manager Terry Jordan, there was a lot of contradicting information about methamphetamine contamination.

Insurers have witnessed an increase in the number of claims by property owners due to tenants smoking or running meth labs in their properties. Mr. Jordan said that insurers welcomed the increase in the methamphetamine limit in the new standard. The Insurers feel that the new standard better represented the health risk of meth contamination.

The Insurance Council in a media statement reported that Insurers suffer a cost of 30 million dollars a year or 100 properties per year due to claims of contamination of houses by methamphetamine. Property owners are supposed to be made to know that they are required to disclose to their Insurer if meth has contaminated their properties. Their hope is that things will change with time. If the contamination are to be regulated efficiently, the damages related to it will reduce drastically.

Additionally, the Standard allows Home owners and landlords to preform self-test on their property, this is provided the tester used and approved self-test kit.

While owners can test their own properties they need to document screening assessments and keep written records and and photographs evidence.  If there is Meth present on an initial screening assessment owners would have to get the professionals to do a detailed assessment.