CHATTANOOGA (AP) – With meth lab busts up in Tennessee, records also show a substantial increase in the number of affected children, including the count of those abruptly taken into protective custody.

The illegal stimulant increasingly is being made using a simpler method of mixing chemicals in plastic bottles.

Tennessee's Meth Task Force shows 2,082 seized labs in 2010 and 1,835 arrests, up 45 percent from 1,437 seized labs and 1,264 arrests in 2009.

State Department of Children's Services records show 484 children taken into protective custody in meth-related cases in 2010 and 288 the year before. Meth task force records based on reports from law enforcement agencies show 169 children placed in protective custody in 2010 and 91 in 2009.

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