5 Tips On How To Avoid A False DUI Breathalyzer Result

Let's say you had a drink or two but don't feel you are under the influence of alcohol. However, you are arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and offered the choice of taking a breath or blood test (or, in some states, urine). Most DUI suspects choose the breath test - a choice which could doom your chances to prove your innocence. Consider the following advice when deciding which test to take:

1. If you smoke cigarettes, you may want to pass on that Breathalyzer mouthpiece the officer is handing you. Scientific research has shown that smoking can raise the test result considerably - enough to get you charged and convicted of drunk driving. This is because most breath analyzing devices will falsely report acetaldehyde as alcohol. Acetaldehyde is a compound produced in the liver in small amounts as a by-product in the metabolism of alcohol. However, scientists have found acetaldehyde concentrations in the lungs of smokers are far greater than for non-smokers. ("Origin of Breath Acetaldehyde During Ethanol Oxidation: Effect of Long-Term Cigarette Smoking", 100 Journal of Laboratory Clinical Medicine 908). Translated: because breathalyzers can’t tell the difference between alcohol and acetaldehyde, cigarette smokers will have a higher blood-alcohol reading.

2. If you are a diabetic with possible low blood sugar, you should also avoid the breath test. A well-documented by-product of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) is a state called ketoacidosis, which causes the production of acetone - and acetone, like acetaldehyde, will be reported by the Brethalyzer as alcohol. In other words, the Breathalyzer will read significant levels of alcohol on a diabetic’s breath where there may be little or none. See "Diabetes, Breath Acetone and Breathalyzer Accuracy: A Case Study", 9(1) Alcohol, Drugs and Driving (1993). To make matters worse, the reactions of a person in the early stages of a diabetic attack include dizziness, blurred vision, slurred speech, weakness, loss of coordination and confusion - the same symptoms which the patrol officer is looking for: the clear signs of a person under the influence of alcohol. And the officer's observations are quickly followed by a failing performance on DUI field sobriety tests.

3. Are you on a low-carb diet? Or had nothing to eat in quite awhile? Avoid the Breathalyzer in a DUI investigation -- for the same reasons stated in number 2. Perfectly normal, healthy individuals can experience temporary conditions of low blood sugar after consuming small amounts of alcohol, resulting in exaggerated but false symptoms of intoxication. Fasting glycemia can exist where a person has not eaten in 24 hours or has been on a low-carbohydrate diet. Production of glucose in the liver is stopped while the alcohol is broken down. Result: the blood sugar level will drop, affecting the central nervous system - and producing symptoms of a person under the influence of alcohol and a higher breath test result.

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4. If you have acid reflux or have burped or belched before taking the Breathalyzer, offer to provide a blood sample instead. The reason is that you will be breathing alcohol from your stomach into your throat and oral cavity, where it will stay for 20 minutes or so - to be breathed directly into the breath machine. This is not a good thing. The machine's computer is multiplying the amount of alcohol in the breath sample by 2100 times to provide a reading of the alcohol in the blood. This is because it assumes the sample came from the lungs, not the stomach, and the average person has 2100 units of alcohol in his blood for every unit of alcohol in his breath (called the partition ratio). The Breathalyzer does not "know" that your breath sample is not from your lungs and that it should not multiply the alcohol level by anything. Result: false high readings - and a DUI conviction.

5. When you see that officer in the rear-view mirror, don't reach for the mouthwash or breath spray to disguise the drink or two you've had. Most of them contain significant levels of alcohol (Listerine, for example is 27% alcohol) and create a mouth alcohol effect: they remain in the oral cavity for 20 minutes or so - just long enough to be breathed into the Breathalyzer, with the same results mentioned in number 4. Some breath machines have a mouth alcohol detector, but these are highly unreliable.

This article was written by a Las Vegas DUI Lawyer

(Source – PhiliBlurbs)

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Scientists Say - Add Some Red Bull To Your Vodka

A recent study results show that drinking alcohol and energy drinks together significantly reduces the perception of headache, weakness, dry mouth and impairment of motor coordination. Energy drinks do not, however, significantly reduce alcohol-related deficits on objective measures of motor coordination and visual reaction time, which suggests that people who combine alcohol with energy drinks may be at even greater risk for problems such as automobile accidents because they believe they are unimpaired.

The combined use of alcohol and "energy drinks" such as Red Bull have become increasingly popular among youth and young adults in recent years. Users often report reduced sleepiness and increased sensations of pleasure. In the April issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, Brazilian researchers conduct the first controlled scientific study on the effects of combining alcohol with Red Bull. Results show a considerable disconnect between subjects' perceptions and objective measures of their abilities: although combined use reduces the sensation of tiredness and sleepiness, actual capabilities are significantly impaired.

"In Brazil, as in other countries, young people believe that Red Bull and other energy drinks avoid the sleepiness caused by alcoholic beverages and increase their capacity to dance all night," explained Maria Lucia O. Souza-Formigoni, associate professor in the department of psychobiology at the Federal University of São Paulo in Brazil and corresponding author for the study. "In fact, many night clubs offer this mix among their cocktails."

In a previous study on the use of energy drinks among Brazilians, Souza-Formigoni said that users reported greater happiness (38 percent), euphoria (30 percent), uninhibited behavior (27 percent), and increased physical vigor (24 percent). It is unclear, however, if this indicates the ability of energy drinks to reduce the depressant effects, increase the excitatory effects of alcohol, or both.

For the current study, participants (n=26 males) were randomly assigned to one of two groups that received either 0.6 g/kg of alcohol (n=12), or 1.0 g/kg of alcohol (n=14). All participants completed three experimental sessions in random order, seven days apart: ingesting alcohol alone, energy drink alone, or alcohol and energy drink combined. At each session, researchers recorded the participants' subjective sensations of intoxication, as well as objective measures of their motor coordination, breath alcohol concentration, and visual reaction time.

Compared to the ingestion of alcohol alone, the combined ingestion of alcohol and Red Bull significantly reduced the subjects' perception of headache, weakness, dry mouth and impairment of motor coordination. Red Bull did not, however, significantly reduce deficits caused by alcohol on objective measures of motor coordination and visual reaction time.

The scientists spoke of the need for further studies to test higher doses of both alcohol and energy drinks, which Souza-Formigoni is doing with the use of animal models. "We are also testing separately the different substances of energy drinks – caffeine, taurine, etc. – in combination with alcohol to determine which of them are responsible for [for what effects during] interaction."

(Source – SperoNews)

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Highschool Kid Proves You Can't Beat Breathalyzer

You can’t beat the breathalyzer. If you doubt that, it’s time to study the science fair exhibit of 17-year-old Jessica Johnson of Meteghan, who wants you to know that something like gargling with mouthwash will not fool a police machine when it measures alcohol consumption.

Johnson, a student at St. Mary’s Bay Academy outside Weymouth, won first place among entries by grade 11 and 12 students at the recent Tri-County Regional Science Fair. Her entry, which also took second prize overall, earned her a spot at the national science fair next month in Saguenay, Que.

Johnson’s ‘Beat the Breathalyzer’ entry was one of 10 submitted by SMBA students to the science fair March 23 at the Yarmouth campus of Nova Scotia Community College.

Runner-up in the grades 11-12 category was fellow SMBA student Julia Martin, whose entry looked at plant growth.

Johnson said her entry was motivated by a remark of a friend’s mother who said the results of a breathalyzer were not infallible.

“I want to know if you could mess with the results,” said Johnson, and with the help of a constable at the Meteghan RCMP detachment, she tested a breathalyzer with products that contained alcohol, looking for the colour revealed by the alcohol found in drinks.

“She proved visually that none of the substances would achieve the colour change,” said science teacher Jennifer Thibault, who is advising Jessica and helping as she polishes her display for exhibit at the Canada-Wide Science Fair in Saguenay.

SMBA was the only Municipality of Digby high school to enter the fair, which this year had more than 100 participants, with entries that looked at subjects as varied as crime scene investigation, which cereal has the most iron, musical plants and why everyone’s heart doesn’t beat the same.

The overall winning entry was entered by Travis LeBlanc, a grade 7-8 student at Maple Grove School in Yarmouth County, whose entry looked at cleaners versus bacteria. In third place was Collin Dares of Lockeport Regional High School, a grade 9-10 student whose exhibit was entitled ‘Mousebot’.

The top three winners shared cash prizes, and qualified for the national science fair, where they will be sent by Tri-County Regional School Board, accompanied by a teacher who has served on the board’s science lead team.

(Source – The Digby Courier)

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