PHOENIX -- Methamphetamine is everywhere in the Valley, 5 Investigates discovered in a recent report.

An investigation discovered methamphetamine residue in hotel rooms, fast food restaurant bathrooms, restrooms in an upscale hotel and rental cars using an ID2 meth scanner, which is manufactured by CDEX Inc.

The scanner identifies surfaces that contain trace amounts of methamphetamine.

• Link: AZ Meth Detection Service

According to home inspector John Comstock, who uses a meth scanner, his largest customer base is buyers who are thinking about purchasing foreclosed homes.

He said about 40 percent of the homes he inspects have trace amounts of the drug.

"That would be in one room or more, because normally, it's found in bathrooms and bedrooms," he said.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said he believes police have only discovered 10 percent of the methamphetamine labs that have operated in the state.

"Of the, let's say, 1,000 labs that were closed down and prosecuted by state authorities, that probably means that there were another 10,000 out there that weren't," Goddard said.

The state publishes a list of former methamphetamine lab locations; however, these only include ones found by law enforcement.

Landlords, on the other hand, are under no legal obligation to report a suspected lab, nor do they have to spend the money to clean it up.

"The average cost, I'm told, for (cleaning up) an apartment is $10,000," Goddard said. "For a rental house, it's in excess of $20,000, so, unfortunately, unscrupulous landlords have almost an incentive not to report."

The residue left behind after a methamphetamine lab has shut down is dangerous for children, according to Dr. Kathryn Coffman, the director of the Child Abuse Assessment Center at St. Joseph's Hospital.

"Children are notorious for hand-to-mouth contact," she said. "Residue can be ingested into their bodies."

Methamphetamine contamination in a home can cause skin lesions, respiratory infections and cancer.

Nevertheless, most people don't make methamphetamine in cars and public bathrooms; traces of the drug found in those places come from use alone.

"There is documented proof that it is dangerous," said CDEX Inc. CEO Malcom Phillips.

Phillips said emerging evidence shows the fumes from methamphetamine use can cause dangerous contamination to a room, car, bathroom or any confined space.

"That is what I call the ticking time bomb," Phillips said.

Experts, however, don't recommend everyone avoid all hotels, public restrooms and rental cars; rather, people should just make sure they wash their hands regularly.