Meth exposure poses low risk to public

Health o cials say

BY TAYLER SHAW TSHAW@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

With the list of Colorado libraries that temporarily closed due to methamphetamine contamination at three locations, some residents asked: What’s the health risk of people who were recently in these spaces?

In late December, Boulder Public Library became the rst to temporarily close after testing found levels of meth in its restroom exhaust vents. Later, several areas of the Boulder RTD station closed due to contamination as well.

On Jan. 11, the Englewood Public Library and portions of the Englewood Civic Center temporarily closed after test results found meth contamination.

Most recently, Littleton’s Bemis Public Library temporarily closed Jan. 18 after testing found elevated levels of meth contamination in several bathrooms.

Meth is a highly addictive stimulant drug that is commonly either ingested, smoked or injected, said Eric Hill, an emergency medicine physician and the EMS medical director for the Medical Center of Aurora.

However, experts say the risk that secondary meth contamination in public spaces poses to the public is fairly low.

“We don’t have any data to say that there’s a high public health risk from secondary meth exposure from a public space … those aren’t typically presenting to emergency departments,” Hill said, noting people may feel some symptoms but usually not severe enough that they go to the emergency room.

Physical symptoms of meth can include increased heart rate, eye irritation if there is chemical exposure in the air and a slight cough, Hill said. Psychological impacts may include paranoia, having an out-of-body experience and hallucinations.

Meth exposure could also cause increased jitteriness, irritability, fatigue, moodiness, a skin rash from irritation or trouble sleeping, said Karin Pacheco, an allergist in the Division of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at National Jewish Health.

“But people don’t spend that much time in a bathroom,” she said. “So your actual exposure would be fairly low.”

Pacheco said the body breaks down methamphetamine quickly, so even if symptoms were to arise due to secondhand exposure, they would likely reside in one or two hours.

According to Boulder County’s website, there is a low probability of secondary exposure to meth-contaminated surfaces causing someone to experience symptoms, “especially in relation to exposure in a public setting.” roughout his 10 years of working in the Denver area, Hill has never seen a patient have a large symptomatic exposure from secondary meth exposure.

Arapahoe County Public Health also said health risks to the general public are considered low.

“ ey may get a little bit,” he said, explaining a person may feel some symptoms if someone was smoking meth near them. “But as far as causing, like, acute psychosis and that kind of stu , that’s extremely uncommon.”

Contamination in restrooms and vents

When it comes to meth contamination that has been detected in the exhaust vents and restrooms of libraries, Hill thinks the health risk is low.

“I seriously doubt someone would be symptomatic related to exhaust vent residue in an exhaust vent. It certainly means that, yes, there was methamphetamine smoked in there, but I think the public health risk is fairly low on that,” he said. “I’ve never seen one (patient), where they were just in a public bathroom, get exposure (and) having true symptoms from that.”

Pacheco agreed that the contamination in air vents is likely from people smoking it, as it would be unlikely for someone to have time to cook meth in a public restroom.

Mark Stephenson, a retired hazardous materials emergency response team chief at Aurora Fire Rescue, added that surface contamination could arise from methamphetamine sitting or spilling on a surface.

Pacheco said a person would probably be more likely to get secondhand exposure from touching a surface than from breathing the air in a contaminated restroom. If meth has been smoked in a space, the aerosols can settle on surfaces.

Hill explained that if there was a large amount of methamphetamine contamination on a surface and a person was to touch their hands to the surface and then eat something, they might get symptomatic from that.

“You could get some secondary effects from that,” Hill said. “I wouldn’t expect it to be a long-term issue for someone unless they’re really frequently exposed to it, over and over and over again, like if they’re living at an apartment with someone who’s using it.