By SHAILA DEWAN and ROBBIE BROWN


WINCHESTER, Tennessee - The spacious home where the newly wed Rhonda and Jason Holt began their family in 2005 was plagued by mysterious illnesses.

The Holts’ three babies were ghostlike and listless, with breathing problems that called for respirators, repeated trips to the emergency room and, for the middle child, Anna, the heaviest dose of steroids a toddler can take. Ms. Holt, a nurse, developed migraines. She and her husband, a factory worker, had kidney ailments.

It was not until February, more than five years after they moved in, that the couple discovered the root of their troubles: their house was contaminated with high levels of methamphetamine left by the previous occupant, who had been dragged from the attic by the police.

The Holts’ next realization was almost as devastating: it was up to them to spend the $30,000 or more that cleanup would require.

With meth lab seizures on the rise nationally , similar cases are playing out in several states, drawing attention to the problem of meth contamination, which can permeate drywall, carpets, insulation and air ducts, causing respiratory ailments and other health problems.

Federal data suggest that there are tens of thousands of meth-contaminated residences in the United States. The victims include low-income elderly people whose homes are surreptitiously used by relatives or in-laws to make meth, and landlords whose tenants leave them with a toxic mess.

Some states have tried to fix the problem by requiring cleanup and, at the time of sale, disclosure of the house’s history. But the high cost of cleaning - $5,000 to $100,000, depending on the size of the home, the stringency of the requirements and the degree of contamination - has left hundreds of properties vacant and quarantined, particularly in Western and Southern states afflicted with meth use.

Meth contamination can bring financial ruin to families like that of Francisca Rodriguez. The family dog began having seizures nine days after the Rodriguezes moved into their home in Grapevine, Texas, near Dallas, and their 6-year-old son developed a breathing problem similar to asthma, said Ms. Rodriguez, 35, a stay-at-home mother of three.

After learning from neighbors that the home had been a known “drug house,” the family had it tested. The air ducts had meth levels more than 100 times higher than the most commonly cited limit beyond which cleanup is typically required.

The former owner had marked “no” on a disclosure form asking whether the house had ever been a meth lab, Ms. Rodriguez said. But because he is now in prison for meth possession, among other things, the Rodriguezes decided there was nothing to gain by suing him. They moved out, throwing away most of their possessions because they could not be cleaned, and are letting the house go into foreclosure.

“It makes you crazy,” Ms. Rodriguez said. “Our credit is ruined, we won’t be able to buy another house, somebody exposed my kids to meth, and my dog died.”

The health effects of meth contamination are frequently difficult to prove, and research is scant. But John W. Martyny, a meth expert at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, said living in a former meth lab made children more likely to develop learning disabilities and caused long-term respiratory and skin problems.

Even brief exposure can have severe effects, Dr. Martyny said. A 2007 study by the Denver center found that more than 70 percent of law enforcement officials who had inspected meth labs subsequently reported health problems.

To Ms. Holt’s horror, inspectors found high concentrations of meth on her kitchen countertops, where she sterilized bottles, prepared baby food and doled out snacks. “We had no idea that we were starting a family in a meth house,” she said. “We bought a house that eventually was going to sentence our family to death.”

When the family left the house, moving in with Mr. Holt’s parents, their health problems largely subsided. But the heartaches continued. Ms. Holt has been working two jobs to earn money to pay for her house’s remediation. And Anna, 2, had a relapse and had to return briefly to the hospital.

“We don’t know what it’s going to be in the future,” Ms. Holt said, standing in the barren, unfinished structure that was once her dream home. “This meth contamination is all their immune systems have ever known.”




Rhonda Holt and her son Ethan comforted Anna, 2, who suffers from an illness stemming from their methcontaminated home in Tennessee. Below, medications Rhonda and her husband take for breathing problems.