Meth Labs Increase Child Abuse in Arkansas, UAMS Experts Say
| LITTLE ROCK – “Pediatricians and social workers are seeing an alarming number of children who have been exposed to meth labs,” said Jerry G. Jones, M.D., director of the Jones said experts from the Center for Children at Risk are training professionals across the state on how meth labs can affect children. He said child abuse investigators have seen cases where babies were in cribs in the same room as the lab and where small children were allowed to wander through contaminated areas. Training is lead by Karen Farst, M.D., a physician in the Jones said children raised around a meth lab may exhibit physical problems from long-term exposure to toxic fumes and risk developmental and mental problems later on. Children also are injured by coming in contact with the chemicals used to make the drug. “The chemicals in meth are quite poisonous,” Jones said, adding that they are often stored in soda bottles and other containers around the home, in easy reach of curious children. The result is often accidental poisoning and chemical burns in the mouth. Children also have been burned in meth lab fires. According to Jones, about 15 percent of all meth labs catch fire, often with violent explosions. April is National Child Abuse Awareness Month, and statistics regarding child abuse in The types of abuse most substantiated in 2004 include neglect (2,405), sexual abuse (1,724) and physical abuse (1,002). Jones said all suspected cases of abuse hospitalized at ACH and UAMS are evaluated by the Team for Children at Risk. Children also are evaluated at the UAMS Arkansas Children’s House on the ACH campus. More than 500 children are seen each year at the UAMS Arkansas Children’s House. The UAMS Arkansas Children’s House is part of the The UAMS is the state’s only comprehensive academic health center, with five colleges, a graduate school, a medical center, five centers of excellence and a statewide network of regional centers. UAMS has more than 2,200 students and 660 residents and is the state’s largest public employer with almost 9,000 employees. UAMS and its affiliates have an economic impact in UAMS centers of excellence are the