San Diego DUI Lawyers Report Breathalyzers Don't Measure Alcohol

Arrested for drunk driving? A San Diego firm of DUI defense attorneys reports that breathalyzers used by law enforcement do not actually measure alcohol -- and thus may produce falsely high "blood alcohol" readings.

According to the the Law Offices of Lawrence Taylor, Inc., in San Diego, California, most breathalyzers used in DUI cases by law enforcement today use "infrared spectroscopy". This technology involves detection of the "methyl group" in the molecular structure of alcohol. The problem is that there are thousands of chemical compounds containing the methyl group -- some of them found on the human breath. In one study involving 28 subjects, for example, researchers found that the "combined expired air comprises at least 102 various organic compounds of endogenous and exogenous origin" ("Characterization of Human Expired Air", 15 Journal of Chromatographic Sciences 240).

If a person has any of these other compounds on his breath, called "interferents" by the engineers, he will get a falsely high blood-alcohol test result. And if there are two or more such compounds on his breath, the machine will add them up and falsely report the total as the blood- alcohol level.

So what compounds can be found on your breath? According to the San Diego DUI attorneys, diabetics with low blood sugar can have high levels of acetone -- which is "seen" as alcohol by Breathalyzers. And scientific studies have found that people on diets can have reduced blood-sugar levels, causing acetone hundreds of times higher than found in normal individuals (Frank and Flores, "The Likelihood of Acetone Interference in Breath Alcohol Measurements", 3 Alcohol, Drugs and Driving 1). And there are many other so-called "interferents" affecting breathalyzer results

If you are a smoker, your breathalyzer result is likely to be higher than expected. The compound acetaldehyde -- containing the methyl group and so reported by the Breathalyzer as "alcohol" -- is produced in the human body as a by-product in metabolizing consumed alcohol, and eventually passes into the lungs and breath. Researchers have discovered that levels of acetaldehyde in the lungs can be 30 times higher in smokers than in non-smokers. Result: higher BAC readings on the machine.

The San Diego DUI lawyers report that common household products, such as paint, glue, gasoline, and thinners also contain the methyl group. No, you don’t have to drink the stuff: simply absorbing it through your skin or inhaling the fumes can result in significant levels of the chemical in your body for hours or even days, depending upon the "half- life" of the compound. So if you’ve painted a room or breathed in fumes at a gas station in the last day or two, don't take a breathalyzer test.

If you are stopped by the police and suspected of drunk driving, say the San Diego DUI lawyers, you might consider a blood test rather than submitting to a breathalyzer.

By Lawrence Taylor

Maine lawyer releases Bush DUI document

Portland, Maine -- Sporting his signature long-billed fishing cap, Tom Connolly is a familiar figure at the Cumberland County Courthouse. And as befits a former college debate champion, he loves to talk.

When he gets excited, his words come in a loud, rapid-fire burst, and he makes no secret of his disdain for George W. Bush.

So the 43-year-old lawyer was easily overheard Thursday when he was sounding off to colleagues about a revelation: Bush had been arrested 24 years ago in Kennebunkport for drunken driving.

A police officer who heard the courthouse conversation passed the news to a TV reporter. The reporter spotted Connolly later in the day; the lawyer agreed to give her a copy of a court document.

Outside his office on Friday, Connolly rejected Republican talk that the release of the information less than a week before the election was a political dirty trick.
"It's not a dirty trick to tell the truth," he said. "Bush is the one who's been playing fast and loose with the truth."

Connolly's dislike of the Republican presidential nominee is well- documented.
So is his sense of humor. At last summer's Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles, Connolly distributed buttons that said "W is for Wiener," showing Bush stuffed into a hot dog bun. He wrote a book with the same name and distributed about 700 copies at the state party convention.

He also supplied conventioneers with hundreds of buttons that read, "Insomniacs for Gore -- I'd rather be put to sleep than put to death." The references were to Al Gore's reputation for being bland and the number of executions in Texas since Bush became governor.

He also was a delegate to the 1996 convention in Chicago where he wore a lapel button showing a "No Right Turn" traffic sign -- a protest against what he saw as a conservative drift of the party.

Born in Boston, Connolly graduated from Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where he was a debating champion and class valedictorian. He received a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law in 1982.

His oratorical flourishes proved to be of little help two years ago when he attempted to unseat Angus King, the popular independent governor.

King won 59% of the vote, compared with 19% for Republican Jim Longley Jr. and 12% for Democrat Connolly.

Connolly has been outspoken in his support of state control of liquor sales, citing the costs of alcohol abuse to society.

He said Friday that he had represented hundreds of drunken- driving defendants and had sympathy for Bush. But he said it was important for the public to know about the 1976 arrest.
"It's conceivable that Bush could relapse," he said.

by JERRY HARKAVY