Access #: 517317
Headline: Officers concerned about labs' effects: Some drug agents say fumes from methamphetamine chemicals cause health problems, from headaches to rare illnesses.
Date: 01/25/00
Day: Tuesday
Credit: The Press -Enterprise
Section: A Section
Zone: ALL ZONES
Page: A06
Byline: Aldrin Brown
Notes: Sidebar to: "Effects of meth use can be devastating"
Subject: CRIME; NARCOTICS
Keys: SOURCE NATION; METHAMPHETAMINE ; METH LABS; LAW ENFORCEMENT; HEALTH EFFECTS
Type: SERIES
Riverside County sheriff's Detective Carla Gordon never
considered wearing protective equipment while examining toxic
chemicals in the countless methamphetamine labs she investigated
during the 1980s.
Protective masks and boots, now standard equipment for drug
officers, were unheard of. In those days, recognizing the unique
odors of the chemical ingredients was a key part of the job.
"Back then, that's how we identified some of the chemicals,"
Gordon said. "The precautions we took were more for the fire
hazard or explosions, not for the fumes."
Gordon said she commonly experienced headaches and irritated
lungs during and immediately after working in drug labs.
In 1990, Gordon began to suffer migraine headaches and vision
problems. After numerous examinations by physicians, she was
diagnosed with a rare condition known as orbital pseudo tumor, an
accumulation of lymphoid tissue that damaged the muscles
surrounding her eye.
Doctors have been unable to say for certain what caused the
ailment. Nonetheless, Gordon is among a growing number of
current and former narcotics agents who suspect they were
unwitting victims of the chemical hazards found in drug labs.
"Once it was identified what it was, I suspected that there was
a connection," Gordon said.
Fumes from the brew of toxic chemicals used to make
methamphetamine - chemicals like benzene, red phosphorous,
acetone, iodine and countless others - can poison respiratory
and nervous systems, even in the short term.
The long-term health hazards, largely unknown, are of even
greater concern to narcotics officers charged with finding and
investigating toxic drug labs.
Virtually all law enforcement officers either know personally or
have heard stories of officers who developed rare and
inexplicable illnesses resulting in permanent disability and
ruined careers.
"You have just all types of avenues of exposure that people
don't realize," said Jim Erwin, president of the San Bernardino
County Safety Employees Association, which represents sheriff's
deputies. "We will probably in the future seek special
hazardous-duty compensation for those who work in meth labs
because of the chemical exposure and the higher risk."
During the 1980s, before the drug's epidemic popularity,
relatively little was known about the hazards posed by inhaling
or touching the methamphetamine ingredients.
"We all know the dangers now," said Sgt. Steve Rinks, a
narcotics investigator with the Riverside County Sheriff's
Department, whose first job with the drug unit lasted from 1986
to 1989. "Unfortunately, back in the '80s this is something that
was new to us."
In those days, it was common for officers to transport the drug
chemicals in the back seats of their cars.
Detective Gordon, now 44, spearheaded probes of methamphetamine
and PCP labs for the department from 1984 to 1989.
After the diagnosis of her eye condition, she underwent
exploratory surgery and a medley of experimental treatments, but
she still suffers from headaches and limited peripheral vision.
She considers herself fortunate that the condition has not ended
her 21-year law-enforcement career.
"It's essentially like with a lot of injuries or disabilities.
I've just learned to compensate," Gordon said.
Former San Bernardino County sheriff's narcotics Detective Mike
Howell wasn't so lucky.
Howell was forced to take medical retirement in 1996 after being
diagnosed with a severe respiratory illness that reduced his lung
capacity to less than 50 percent.
Doctors could not definitively say what caused the condition.
But Howell, who worked in methamphetamine and PCP labs,
smoke-filled jails and commercial chemical dumps, has no doubt
that it was caused by his job.
In 1996, a workers' compensation judge and a county retirement
board agreed with him. Howell was awarded a one-time five-figure
settlement and half of his salary and full medical benefits for
the rest of his life.
Benefits panels have taken similar positions elsewhere in the
country.
Between 1990 and 1996, four Portland, Ore., police officers won
workers' compensation cases resulting from illnesses the
officers argued had been caused by exposure to methamphetamine
labs during the 1980s.
Three of the officers developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form
of cancer, while the other was diagnosed with a lung disease.
"Each of these claims had a medical report from a doctor
indicating that it was probable that the condition was caused by
the work," said Julie Leonard, assistant administrator of the
Portland Fire and Police Disability and Retirement Fund.
Many Portland officers who worked with methamphetamine labs
during the 1980s routinely complained of such symptoms as skin
rashes, headaches, coughing and peculiar tastes in their mouths,
Leonard said.
The Portland workers' compensation awards are not the norm
nationwide. Panels in other communities have been less generous.
Retired Los Angeles Police Department narcotics supervisor Roy
Wunderlich was diagnosed in 1997 with a rare form of liver cancer
that resulted in the removal of half of his liver.
Wunderlich, 56, said he was among the first Los Angeles officers
to specifically target manufacturers of methamphetamine during
the late 1970s and early 1980s.
"Everyone had headaches and dizziness," he recalled of the meth
raids. "I'd had a handful of exposures where I received medical
attention. There are several times where I probably should have
had medical attention, but I didn't."
For the past two years, Wunderlich has fought to recover more
than $200,000 in out-of-pocket medical expenses. He also wants the
city of Los Angeles to fund lifetime medical benefits.
Since medical experts on both sides of the issue hesitate to
directly link cancers to specific job exposures, Los Angeles city
officials dispute the claim that Wunderlich's cancer can be
definitively linked to his time on the force.
Still, he wants to see more done to protect his former
colleagues.
Officers who work with drug labs should receive more thorough
health screenings, Wunderlich said. Currently, narcotics
officers in many California departments undergo annual blood,
urine and lung tests.
But the baseline screenings don't go far enough, Wunderlich said.
"I had a complete physical several months before I was
diagnosed," he said, noting that the baseline screening didn't
detect his potentially life-threatening illness.
Mike Baker, a drug agent with the state Bureau of Narcotic
Enforcement's Redding office, also had a clean baseline physical
weeks before he was diagnosed with thymoma, another rare form of
cancer.
Baker, 41, had a baseball-sized tumor removed from behind his
heart. He, too, has been fighting to recover workers'
compensation benefits for the injury, which he believes stems
from his 12 years of investigating methamphetamine labs.
"The whole issue is proving that a certain chemical caused that
particular cancer," Baker said. "It's very difficult."
Dan Stralka, regional toxicologist for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's San Francisco office, said researchers have
just started examining the effects of long-term exposure to
chemicals found in meth labs.
But clearly, the hazards of breathing some of the chemicals,
like benzene - a known human carcinogen - are real, he said.
"These law-enforcement personnel weren't measuring the level of
toxins, and they weren't taking appropriate precautions, so
their level of exposure and what hazard could be associated with
that would generally be unknown," Stralka said.
In the future, narcotics officers may have an easier time
winning their injury cases.
Two state laws passed in 1999 require that cities and counties
bear the burden of proving that cancers among police officers
with more than five years on the job were not caused by the work.
In San Bernardino County, sheriff's narcotics officers began
undergoing baseline physicals about four months after Detective
Howell took his medical retirement. Like other departments
throughout the state, local officers are trained and equipped to
protect themselves from the hazards of chemical contaminants.
No amount of protection is foolproof, however. Often the demands
of the job - including pursuing suspects inside meth labs - mean
officers go unprotected into the harmful vapors for brief
periods of time.
Other times, officers exploring crime scenes at seemingly safe
distances from chemicals later realize they were too close.
"I get cramps when I go to one of these labs," said Lt. Bobby
Phillips, commander of the sheriff's Methamphetamine Interdiction
Team. "One of our guys starts sneezing."
San Bernardino police narcotics Sgt. Mitch Kimball sees similar
symptoms.
"I think every one of us goes out of there with a headache after
one of these things," he said.
For those who work around drug labs, thinking of the potential
health effects can be unnerving.
Some officers become anxious at the first hint of a strange
twinge or unusual illness as they learn more about the hazards of
the chemicals that have surrounded them for years.
"Every time you get any type of a symptom of something that is
out of the ordinary, that's usually the first thing that you fear,"
Gordon said.
Eric Vilchis10/12/2018