Doubt over P-testing rules sparks controversy
A Wellington landlord whose tenants’ P-habit cost $40,000 in decontamination says the testing and clean-up industry must go under the microscope as health guidelines spark controversy.
Her warning comes as the New Zealand Drug Foundation says Housing New Zealand should compensate state house tenants it kicked out of ‘‘P-contaminated’’ homes which are well below safe levels.
A new report prepared for the Ministry of Health has cast doubt on the guidelines for methamphetamine contamination and how they are being interpreted by government agencies and meth-testing companies.
The report, from the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR), has recommended the acceptable level of contamination for a house where P was smoked be 1.5 or 2 micrograms per 100 square centimetres, depending on whether or not it is carpeted.
That is up to four times the current 0.5-microgram limit in the ministry guidelines – the only official guidelines in New Zealand for P contamination.
The ministry director for protection, regulation and assurance, Dr Stewart Jessamine, said that at the time the ministry developed its guidelines, ‘‘they were based on the best advice available’’.
‘‘The interpretation and use of the ministry’s guidelines since then by other agencies is something to raise with them.’’
Ranui Heights private property landlord Cheryl Brown knows what it is like to grapple with confusion over at what level methamphetamine traces became dangerous to health.
She evicted her downstairs tenants after extra people began moving in and the noise began concerning neighbours.
When she prepared for a new tenant to move in, a carpet-layer refused to touch the carpet, saying: ‘‘It’s got meth in it.’’
An initial meth-tester told her they found levels of contamination suggesting a P-lab had been operating in the flat, offering to decontaminate for $20,000. Each test cost about $1000 – and she had to do several, with the chemical results seeming indecipherable.
Brown consulted the ministry guidelines and coming up wanting for answers, sought a second opinion. The second crew told her the levels were more consistent with the drug being smoked indoors, and found no evidence of waste or drainage traces usually present with P labs.
She felt ‘‘lucky’’ her insurance covered all decontamination costs, amounting to about $40,000, but said it was hard for landlords to interpret just how dangerous P traces were, or what they should be paying for decontamination.
Massey University environmental chemist Nick Kim, who helped develop the ministry guidelines, warned in June they were being inaccurately applied to properties where there was no real health risk.
‘‘For the cases where people have smoked it and it’s just trace residues on the wall, my view is there is no health risk ... it’s not really any different to someone that smokes cigarettes [inside].’’
NZ Drug Foundation executive director Ross Bell said Housing NZ had admitted there were issues with the guidelines during a previous meeting with the organisation.
‘‘I found it really difficult to contain my anger and frustration on this issue … they knew yet continued to use those guidelines to do things like evict families.’’
Housing NZ chemical contamination manager Charlie Mitchell said it had received no advice from the Ministry of Health that it was misusing the guidelines. Decisions to evict tenants were based on a zero-tolerance approach, to P consumption or manufacture and not the health rules.