In a 160-degree sauna room, police officers swap stories about the methamphetamine labs they encountered in their careers while they sweat out the ammonia in their systems from exposure to toxic chemicals encountered in those labs.
During one sauna session, Al Acosta, an officer for the Utah Department of Public Safety, began smelling the pungent chemical people use as a household cleaner, one that meth manufacturers use in "cooking" the drug.
"My towel just reeked of ammonia," Acosta said. "It was coming from my body."
Acosta and other officers "bake" about four hours a day at the Bio Cleansing Centers of America in Orem as part of the Utah Meth Cops Project, a new detoxification program developed by Attorney General Mark Shurtleff for police officers exposed to meth.
The program, which has operated about seven months, uses a three-step system of exercise, nutrition and sweating in a sauna.
The steps help release toxins from the body, which enter into officers' systems by soaking through the skin or by breathing. Toxins can stay in the system for 15 years or more, doctors said.
Participants in the program also take extra doses of the vitamin niacin, which breaks down the fat cells where the toxins are stored, sometimes for years.
This is the same program that was used to treat rescue workers exposed to toxins at Ground Zero after the attack on the World Trade Center, Shurtleff said.
Officers suffering from meth exposure report respiratory problems, acid reflux, sleeping problems, chronic joint and muscle pain, mood changes, migraines and in some cases, strange cancers.
Acosta was diagnosed with colon cancer. Although a connection between his exposure to meth and the cancer has not been proven, he said he thinks there could be a relationship.
The program has treated four officers and is currently treating 12 more.
Sandra Lucas, founder of the American Detoxification Foundation, which is raising money for the project, has a list of 100 officers who need treatment. About 20 of those 100 officers have a need for immediate attention. Ten officers are known to have died because of meth exposure, although there may be more, Lucas said.
The attorney general approached Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. for $140,000 to help send about 20 more officers through the program. The governor was interested and supportive, Shurtleff said.
Currently, the foundation is trying to raise money to treat the remaining officers and other cases as the list grows.
"We've got to help those [officers]," Lucas said. "They put their lives on the line for us, and now it's time to give back."
The program changes the officers' lives, Shurtleff said.
Officers who have completed or are in the process of completing the program, which can take a month or more, report increased energy, clarity and mental capacity. Decreased incidences of pain, acid reflux disease and sleeplessness are also commonly reported.
Dr. Jerry Ross, the medical director of the program, has used similar techniques when working with environmental medicine and is not surprised at the results he is seeing.
"It's gratifying to see the improvements in these men," he said. "They deserve our help."
Acosta and sauna-mate Kelly Call, a retired officer from the Department of Public Safety, sit like kings on their thrones, drinking more than 2 gallons of water in one sitting and laughing together to make the time pass.
"You have to have a sense of humor in here," Call said.
Acosta, who had colon surgery to remove cancer, will be cancer-free for three years in January. He is in the second week of the program and is already seeing results. The toxins can bring out angry tendencies, he said.
"My wife says I'm easier to live with and my sense of humor is coming back," he said.
Call has also felt a difference.
"I lived on ibuprofen," he said. Call used to take 10-12 pills per day for the pain he experienced because of meth exposure. Since starting the program, he said he hasn't taken a single ibuprofen.
"It's making a big difference," he said.
Copyright Brigham Young University 20 Nov 2007
