Federal officials this week offered the first national blueprint on how to clean up methamphetamine labs — prompting state health experts to consider changes to their policies.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency spent $1.75 million over two years to draft the document outlining ways to decontaminate everything from carpeting to plumbing to clothing in buildings that formerly held meth labs.

About 20 states require that meth labs be cleaned before families can move in. Missouri and Illinois do not.

But Illinois recently strengthened its laws requiring that home buyers be told whether a property was once used as a meth lab.

Both states have voluntary cleanup guidelines for property owners.

Missouri's are eight pages long. Illinois' are two. The EPA's new document is 48.

Kathy Marshall was among the dozens of health experts whom the EPA tapped for input while drafting the guidelines.

"We would not recommend people try to do these cleanups on their own because of the risk of exposures to hazardous chemicals," said Marshall, an environmental toxicologist for the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Some estimates show about two-thirds of meth labs are found in residential settings. One of every five meth lab busts nationwide takes place in Missouri or Illinois, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Property owners in Missouri and Illinois must disclose to potential buyers a building's history as a meth lab. Missouri's law, which took effect in 2001, also requires landlords to tell tenants.

The Illinois law, which took effect in August, does not. Bill sponsors — Sen. John Sullivan, D-Quincy, and Rep. Mike Smith, D-Canton — said they would consider adding rental properties to the law.

About half of Illinois meth labs have been found in rental properties, said Marshall. She sends notices about cleanup guidelines and the state's new disclosure law to owners of property where meth busts have taken place.

Missouri health officials do not send notices. But health administrators plan to study the new EPA guidelines to see if Missouri's rules, drafted in 1999, need updating, said Kit Wagar, Department of Health and Senior Services spokesman.

Last October, the Post-Dispatch reported on Missouri and Illinois families who were unknowingly living in former meth labs. Contamination levels in their homes were high enough for the homes to be condemned in 18 states.

After the stories were published, the Illinois Attorney General's Office and state police vowed to post online Marshall's list of addresses of former meth labs.

"At this point, we do not have the manpower to introduce this new project," said Sgt. Eric Hall. "It is still very much on our agenda."

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department is the only Missouri agency that publishes meth lab addresses on its website.

Residents may turn to the DEA's online address registry, but a Post-Dispatch analysis found that list was incomplete.

Marshall said Illinoisans could contact her to find out whether their home was ever used as a meth lab. Meanwhile, she's going to revise Illinois' cleanup guidelines to reflect the EPA's new ones.

"They go into much more detail than our two-page document," she said.