To find information about DrugWipe 2, the test kits mentioned in this report,
click here.  Other similar products can be found with online searches.

To see a listing of addresses of former meth labs by state and county, click here.

SPRINGFIELD -- Law enforcement agencies busted or found evidence of 1,189 methamphetamine labs last year in Missouri, by far the most in the nation. The next closest states were Indiana, with 564, and Tennessee with 539, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Many meth producers go uncaught and move away from the homes where they cooked up the illegal drug. That’s a major health concern for whoever moves into those homes. Compounding the problem is the fact that homes busted with meth labs are often not properly cleaned.

When meth is produced or even just used in a home, the drug and the chemicals used to make it leave a harmful residue. People could touch and inhale it without even knowing. But there is an affordable way to detect it, and find out if your family is safe.

Your house or apartment may have no obvious signs of a former meth lab, no leftover chemicals, test tubes, or syringes. But it may have invisible residue hiding on walls, countertops and floors.

Breathing or touching that methamphetamine residue could cause health problems like respiratory illness, skin and eye irritation, headaches, nausea, and dizziness. Little is known about the long-term effects.

“A lot of times, what they're really concerned with is small children, because they pick things up off the floor. It's hand to mouth, and they're crawling around on the floor,” said Leroy Schaefer of Sunbelt Environmental, a company that cleans up hazardous material sites, including former meth labs.

If a house is sold through a real estate agent, the seller is asked to disclose if the home was a meth house but Schaefer says the information is often not shared.

“Ninety percent of the time, it's known that it was a meth house, either by police report or the realtor disclosing it, but, 10 percent of the cases, it's sold by owner, and yes, they didn't disclose it,” said Schaefer.

You could spend $1,000 to $1,500 for a company like Sunbelt to test your home. But the Webster County Health Unit recently started using a test called DrugWipe 2 to check homes for the dangerous meth leftovers.

“We were relatively regularly having people call and asking if we could test their house. The test is pretty simple. You dampen the swab and swipe it across up to 40 surfaces throughout the home,”

After the swipes, you fill the cap with water, place it back over the swab, and wait.

“Now, it's not a definitive test as far as how often it's been here or when the last time was; it's just that it is present,”

KY3 News took 25 test samples throughout one house. Within five minutes, the test tells us if the residue is present. Dual red lines show whether methamphetamine residue is present.

For this meth test, the Webster County Health Unit charges just $30. We also found the DrugWipe available online. DrugWipe has five tests for five different drugs and costs about $50 plus shipping.

“I think it's a great option, as a rule of thumb, to tell you yes or no, if there's been meth in the house,” said Schaefer.

“Having the assurance of knowing it wasn't there might help them sleep better,”

But, for homes that do test positive, cleaning up can be costly. Environmental companies may charge anywhere from $3,00 to $25,000, depending on the level of contamination and the size of the house. Staff at Sunbelt Environmental Services wear rubber gloves, suits, and respirators to get the job done: “HEPA vacuuming, wet wiping all surfaces, discarding things that can't be cleaned -- carpets couches, furniture, clothes,” said Schaefer.

Sometimes, the entire house has to be gutted. But many would agree it's a better option than living with the toxic leftovers of someone else's drug habit.

Your local law enforcement or health department may have records of former meth houses.