{"id":568913,"date":"2026-08-14T15:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/568913\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T15:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T15:24:14","slug":"experts-call-for-meth-safety-policy-u-turn-after-huge-increase-in-contamination","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/568913\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts call for meth safety policy u-turn after ‘huge increase’ in contamination"},"content":{"rendered":"

The debate around methamphetamine contamination in homes has reignited, with the authors of a new study calling for a policy u-turn over safe thresholds.<\/p>\n

‘The impact of New Zealand’s 2018 methamphetamine policy on residential contamination’ was published in the New Zealand Medical Journal on Friday.<\/p>\n

The 2018 policy raised the threshold for what was deemed acceptable from 0.5\u03bcg of methamphetamine per 100cm2 to 15\u03bcg – higher than accepted levels in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, the report said.<\/p>\n

In an analysis of more than 420 homes, researchers from Unitec and the University of Waikato found a “substantial” rise in meth contamination since the policy change.<\/p>\n

The report said there could be several factors behind the trend, including a potential increase in “clandestine” meth labs that was also driving increased consumption of the drug, and the policy change leading to less vigilance about the risk.<\/p>\n

The report noted that methamphetamine use continued to rise, according to last year’s New Zealand Drug Trends Survey.<\/p>\n

The study’s lead author Dr Muhammad Irfan said people could be passively exposed to meth by living in homes where the drug had been smoked or manufactured.<\/p>\n

Meth use in NZ breaks records – why?<\/p>\n

He said fears about the effect of this exposure on health – particularly in children – were what prompted testing in New Zealand in 2010.<\/p>\n

“Children are crawling … might be touching the surface of the carpet … putting their hands in their mouth. Their health is .. in danger because of the meth contamination.”<\/p>\n

Irfan said the cost of methamphetamine testing and a need to house people were factors in a review of the threshold in 2018, and in May that year the new levels were adopted.<\/p>\n

He said the “huge increase” in contamination since should trigger a tightening of restrictions again, if not to pre-2018 levels then to the 1.5\u03bcg threshold recommended by Environmental Science and Research (now known as PHF Science) in 2019.<\/p>\n

Overseas research has found passive exposure to methamphetamine could lead to eye and respiratory infections in children as well as some psychological effects, Irfan said.<\/p>\n

Further research on the health impact was needed to establish a contamination threshold that accurately accounted for the risk, he said. In the meantime the acceptable level should be lowered, he added.<\/p>\n

The study’s release comes after neighbours in a Lower Hutt suburb raised concerns that potential buyers of a K\u0101inga Ora home were left in the dark about its history as a “meth lab”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"34<\/p>\n

The ‘for sale’ sign outside the K\u0101inga Ora property on Naenae’s Langford Street.<\/p>\n

RNZ<\/p>\n

‘Jury still out’ on health effects<\/p>\n

Speaking to RNZ earlier this week, emeritus professor of toxicology at University of Canterbury Ian Shaw said the “jury’s still out” on the health effects of living in a meth-contaminated home.<\/p>\n

While he could not comment on this particular study or its findings, he was currently part of a research team – contracted by a New Zealand company – looking into the effects of meth exposure.<\/p>\n

“As far as I’m aware, we don’t really know whether residues of methamphetamine in houses have any effect on people that might live in those houses later. So we need … a definitive study to determine that.”<\/p>\n

Shaw said the current statutory limits for meth contamination appeared fairly arbitrary.<\/p>\n

\"Professor<\/p>\n

Professor Ian Shaw<\/p>\n

Supplied<\/p>\n

“I don’t think that we have set … that threshold based on the knowledge that below that amount will have no effect on you and above that amount it might have an effect on you.”<\/p>\n

In his opinion, the effect on people who were living in a home where meth had been smoked was very low.<\/p>\n

“Cutting your bread on a bread board that someone smoked meth next to … you would get really low doses,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But at the other end of the spectrum you might have a house … that’s a meth lab … then the amounts of methamphetamine contaminating that home could be very significantly greater.”<\/p>\n

Shaw said those homes could give people a “reasonable-sized” dose of the drug.<\/p>\n

“The question is, do these doses do anything to you? And as far as I’m aware the jury’s really out on this at the moment.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The debate around methamphetamine contamination in homes has reignited, with the authors of a new study calling for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":568914,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-568913","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568913","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=568913"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/568913\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=568913"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=568913"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=568913"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}