Tasers do not kill. There are hundreds of studies, reports etc that prove that without a doubt. Everyone wants to blame someone, and lawyers want to help them to the tune of 40% or so. Funny thing is that taser has been sued about 91 times and only once did a whacko in Kalifornia find the taser 15% responsible for a crackhead who overdosed (and that award is being appealed). Give it up and go back to little old ladies that spill hot coffee in their lap.

Steve,
Start here and follow the links.
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I will be back with hundreds more

A good one More ...
Study Finds Prolonged Exposure from a TASER Electronic Control Device has No Abnormal Respiratory Effects on Human Subjects
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Human test subjects were able to breathe within normal limits during extended 15-second exposures

SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq: TASR), a market leader in advanced personal protection devices announced today that a landmark study by Dr. Jeffrey Ho, a physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Hennepin County Medical Center (Minneapolis, MN) who led a group of physicians including Dr. Donald M. Dawes of Lompoc District Hospital (Lompoc, CA) and Dr. Laura L. Bultman of Northern California Kaiser Permanente (Sacramento, CA) and other researchers from around the country concluded that prolonged exposure to a conducted energy weapon "did not impair respiratory parameters in this population group of volunteers."

The peer reviewed study appeared Tuesday as an "Article in Press" on the web site of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine.

This study is the most extensive published sampling of human subjects to undergo breath-by-breath gas exchange measurement on the effects of a 15-second exposure to the TASER® X26 Electronic Control Device (ECD). An ECD is also referred to as a conducted energy weapon (CEW).

According to the study, the researchers "were to unable detect any respiratory impairment during either prolonged continuous or prolonged intermittent CEW exposure in this study population. It does not appear that prolonged CEW exposure causes a decreased tidal volume, hypercapnia, hypoxia, or apnea. We recommend further study in this area to validate our results."

"We applaud Dr. Ho and his team of researchers for this landmark human study into the medical safety of our life-saving TASER systems," said Rick Smith, CEO of TASER International. "This study of human volunteers as it relates to respiratory effects surrounding TASER technology lays more groundwork for further, planned human studies. We continue to encourage studies of this type and believe that the foundation of data reported by Dr. Ho and his team will further debunk the myth of breathing impairment."

"We were particularly interested in the study confirming what early research and anecdotal experience had previously demonstrated finding no evidence of breathing impairment during the testing of TASER devices as it relates to the attempts of critics to link TASER technology with in-custody death events. It's encouraging to see this subject addressed in a highly respected peer reviewed medical journal as opposed to the news accounts using subjective speculation by critics and third parties without scientific basis," concluded Smith.

The study assessed the breathing capability of human subjects during extended exposures to a TASER ECD. It studied 52 resting human subjects who underwent breath-by-breath gas exchange monitoring after a 15-second discharge from a TASER X26. The subjects were randomized and placed on a pulmonary function measurement device and received either three five-second discharges with a one-second break between cycles or had a continuous discharge of 15 seconds applied. Common respiratory parameters were collected before, during and after the exposure. Health histories and demographic information were also collected on the volunteers.

The study was partially funded by TASER International and is available at More ...

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Cleveland Clinic Study Shows that Cocaine Actually Increases the TASER Safety Margin
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- TASER International, Inc. (NASDAQ: TASR), a market leader in advanced electronic control devices announced today that a study by the Cleveland Clinic reported a standard electrical discharge from a TASER® brand device does not induce ventricular fibrillation and that cocaine intoxication increases the safety margin even further.

The study used anesthetized adults pigs as animal models according to Dhanunjaya Lekkireddy, M.D., an electrophysiology fellow at the Cleveland Clinic, at the Heart Rhythm Society meeting. Five anesthetized adult pigs were infused intravenously with high-dose cocaine to study the interaction between the drug and the TASER X26's electrical current.

The study found that standard discharge from the TASER X26 did not induce ventricular fibrillation at any of the five tested body sites. The cocaine attenuated the effect of the shocks by 50% to 150% above the baseline safety margin.

The study indicates that cocaine may not cause arrhythmias and may actually protect against them in the absence of pre-existing myocardial ischemia, infarct, metabolic abnormalities or cardiomyopathy. According to Dr. Lekkireddy, the drugs appear to exert significant sodium channel blocking to increase ventricular fibrillation safety thresholds.

"A standard five-second stun gun application is unlikely to cause life-threatening arrhythmias, at least in the normal heart, irrespective of the position of application," said Dr. Lekkireddy.

"This is a ground breaking study which contradicts many speculations and popular myths about the interplay of cocaine and the electrical current of TASER technology," said Rick Smith, CEO for TASER International. "While cocaine is obviously dangerous by itself, the study found it is not an additive effect upon on the interaction with the electrical current of the TASER X26. In fact, contrary to popular myth, cocaine actually increased the safety margin by approximately 50 percent."

This study was published as an abstract and presented as a poster at the Heart Rhythm Society conference in Boston, MA today. These data and conclusions should be considered to be preliminary as they have not yet been reviewed and published in a peer-reviewed publication. More information on the study can be found at: More ...

I am sure you will point out that many of the studies I quote were funded, partially funded, supported by Taser. There are plenty of studies conducted by our military, the NIJ and the DOJ. I will get to those but for now, start here
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Then check out












Use of Tasers® by Law Enforcement Agencies

REPORT 6 OF THE COUNCIL ON SCIENCE AND PUBLIC HEALTH (A-09) American Medical Association June 15 2009

(Reference Committee D)



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Academic Emergency Medicine


Ho, J. D., D. M. Dawes, et al. (2008). "Echocardiographic Evaluation of a TASER-X26 Application in the Ideal Human Cardiac Axis." Acad Emerg Med.

Conclusions: A 10-second ECD exposure in an ideal cardiac axis application did not demonstrate concerning tachyarrhythmias using human models. The swine model may have limitations when evaluating ECD technology.

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Lactate and pH evaluation in exhausted humans with prolonged TASER X26 exposure or continued exertion.

Forensic Sci Int. Jun 16 2009

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A MULTI-METHOD EVALUATION OF POLICE USE OF FORCE OUTCOMES

Final Report To The National Institute of Justice. University of South Carolina

TASER ECD Three‐Year Study

This study is concerned with injuries that may occur to police officers and citizens during use of force events.

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Evaluation of the New York City Police Department Firearm Training and Firearm-Discharge Review Process

The findings and recommendations on conductive energy devices are contained in a monograph prepared by the RAND Corporation for the New York City Police Department and release yesterday entitled Evaluation of the New York City Police Department Firearm Training and Firearm-Discharge Review Process.

With regard to conductive energy devices, the RAND study concluded that “[a]nalysis of the NYPD firearm-discharge cases and the experience of other police departments suggests that, if the NYPD employed a more robust, less lethal standoff weapon, it might not only prevent some incidents from escalating to deadly force but also reduce injuries to officers and citizens alike, as it has with other departments.”

More information can be found on CEDs in the RAND study on pages 64-78 and on pages 96-97 of the complete report which can be found at:

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California Highway Patrol Electronic Control Device Evaluation

Conductive Energy Weapon-TASER Pilot Project Report

Conductive Energy Weapon- Stinger System S-400 and S-200 Test and Evaluation

The reports issued by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) were received without any restrictions and are public documents. The papers entitled 2-07 CHP-TASER Pilot Project Report-Final.pdf and 2-07 CHP-Stinger System S-400 and S-200 Test and Evaluation.pdf were received in response to a subpoena that was sent the CHP concerning the CHP’s conducted energy weapon (CEW) testing procedures.

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New study: TASERs “as safe as weapons can be,” not “instruments of death”
From Force Science News
A first-of-its-kind, case-by-case study of in-custody deaths associated with TASER use has confirmed that the popular electronic control devices are by no means the dangerous and often deadly weapons that Amnesty International, the ACLU and media reports frequently suggest.

Self-described as “kind of a nerd” who approaches tedious research as recreation, Chief Howard Williams of the San Marcos (TX) PD patiently tracked down and analyzed 213 cases in which suspects in the U.S. died after being TASERed. The search took more than a year and cost thousands from his own pocket, but in the end Williams has documented what TASER supporters have long believed:

These devices are “safe weapons. At least they are as safe as weapons can be.”

During the scope of his investigation, which covered cases from 1983 through 2005, Williams concluded that a TASER can be confirmed as the direct cause of or a significant contributing factor in only 2 deaths, he told Force Science News. “That’s less than 1% of the deaths that critics of Taser technology attribute to it.”

Since his study formally ended, he has identified and preliminarily probed some 216 additional post-TASERing fatalities that occurred from 2006 to the present. But he has found no data that would change his initial findings or cast doubt on TASER safety.

Critics of TASER have failed to “separate evidence from conjecture or to analyze cases” one by one, Williams says. Instead, they’ve drawn misleading assumptions “based simply on the number of deaths, or on a misunderstanding of how the devices work, or on speculation of potential problems with the use of electromuscular disruption technology.”

In contrast, he says his study objectively analyzes “the credible evidence”—including “what medical experts know about sudden death, the technical operations of conducted energy weapons, the physiological effects of TASER devices, and the facts of each case—to determine the true role” of TASERs in suspects’ fatalities.

Williams’ discoveries are reported in a 212-page book, TASER Electronic Control Devices and Sudden In-custody Death: Separating Evidence from Conjecture, issued recently by Charles C. Thomas Publishers [Call (800) 258-8980 or order a copy online]

“Given all the headlines, the controversy and the lawsuits generated by TASER-related deaths, it’s ironic that a lone police official steps up to conduct this kind of vital research rather than it being a priority mandate by a major governmental entity,” says Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Research Center at Minnesota State University-Mankato. “Sadly, this speaks to the lack of interest at the state and federal level for funding research into practical, street-level enforcement issues.

“Chief Williams’ study will not be the final scientific statement on the ramifications of TASER use. But it presents the clearest picture to date regarding a core controversy that in the past has produced far more heat than light.”

Williams first got interested in exploring the “death by TASER” issue, which he considers “the most significant law enforcement controversy of the last decade,” when he was struck by the contrast between what he saw of TASER use on the street and what he read in the media and from activist groups about it.

On one hand were officers’ success stories—incidents that might otherwise have escalated to baton beatings or shootings being resolved earlier and less violently, fewer on-the-job injuries by officers, fewer ER trips by subdued suspects thanks to TASER deployment. On the other hand were alarming allegations by Amnesty and other groups, strongly implying if not charging outright that TASERs were responsible for scores of offender deaths and calling for moratoriums on the “dangerous” devices’ use.

Williams tells his CJ students at Texas State University, where he’s an adjunct faculty member, “You do not have to trust what anyone tells you. Research it yourself.” So he took his own advice and started looking into TASER-related deaths, determined to see what the evidence revealed.

cont..............

continued:
Searching out leads on the Internet and through media databases at Texas State, he compiled a comprehensive list of reported fatalities. Then through freedom of information requests, he pursued each case and got police reports, autopsy results and other official records wherever possible and supplemented these with whatever news coverage he could garner. He amassed stacks of information 2 to 3 feet high on his desk at home and waded through them item by item, tabulating and analyzing.

Each of the 213 cases he verified is described in narrative detail in his book and includes the name, age, race and gender of the deceased; the date of the incident and the death; the agency involved; the cause of death, plus contributing factors; and the role of the TASER device deployed. Unique to Williams’ study, these accounts in themselves make fascinating reading and represent a prodigious amount of research.

But the payoff, of course, is the conclusions Williams draws from his analyses. These include the following highlights:


Early generation fatalities. The first 42 of Williams’ case studies represent deaths that occurred before 2000 and followed the use of first- and second-generation TASER weapons (the TASER TF-76, the Tasertron and the Air TASER 34000, which “relied mainly on pain compliance”) against aggressive or resistive subjects.

A TASER device cannot be confirmed as a cause of death or even as a significant contributing factor in any of these “Group 1” cases, Williams reports.

By the study’s definition, TASER can be “confirmed” as a direct cause of death only in instances where the subject likely would have survived had the weapon not been used.

Later generation fatalities. The other 171 deaths, considered “Group 2” events, followed the application of third- and fourth-generation weapons (Advanced TASER M26 and the TASER X26, which depend on “electromuscular disruption technology”).

In this category, TASER can be confirmed as a cause of death in only 1 case and confirmed as a significant contributing factor in only 1 other, Williams concludes.

“The evidence makes the case that TASER devices are not instruments of death,” Williams asserts. “The only conclusion the evidence supports is that they are safe weapons.”

Case details. The sole case of confirmed death-by-TASER involved extreme circumstances in subduing a 29-year-old black male prisoner in South Carolina named Maurice Cunningham. After a night of hallucinating that snakes were around him, Cunningham escaped his cell in a sheriff’s facility, stabbed 2 officers in the eye with a pencil and tried to gouge out the eyes of a third officer.

He was shocked 5 times with a TASER, for a cumulative total of 35 seconds, but “he ripped the probes out and continued to fight,” Williams reports. After an ineffective use of chemical spray, he was zapped with a second TASER, the probes hitting in his left arm and thigh. Williams notes: “The deputy held the trigger for 2 minutes 49 seconds,” before Cunningham collapsed and was soon after pronounced dead.

“[T]he coroner listed Cunningham’s cause of death as cardiac arrhythmia due to TASER shocks,” Williams writes. “Pathologists found that [his] heart suffered damage at a cellular level purportedly from the electrical current [and] concluded that the probes…completed a circuit in his body that disrupted the electrical system that controls the heart.”

The single case in which Williams classified TASER as a significant contributing cause of death also represents an anomaly of circumstances. This offender was Jerry Pickens, a 55-year-old white male who hostilely confronted sheriff’s deputies in his front yard in Louisiana when they arrived to investigate a family dispute.

Against their orders, Pickens tried to re-enter his residence. They TASERed him, and he stiffened and fell, striking his head on the driveway. He was declared brain-dead at the hospital and died 3 days later when doctors pulled the plug on life support. The coroner ruled that he died of a brain hemorrhage from the fall. “Clearly,” Williams writes, “the fall…was caused by application of the TASER.”

Predisposing factors. Williams reports that subjects who die in custody or during an arrest after a TASER is used against them tend to share certain characteristics that seem to “predispose” them to an increased risk of sudden death quite apart from any TASER involvement.

These include: obesity, coronary problems, illicit drug use, mental illness, too much or too little psychotropic medication, alcohol intoxication or withdrawal, diabetes and hypoglycemia, hyperthyroidism, dehydration, head injuries (current or historic) and vigorous physical activity that may trigger ventricular fibrillation.

continued:
For example, nearly 70% of Group 1 subjects and more than 72% of those in Group 2 were users of illicit drugs (most often cocaine). Nearly 40% in Group 2 showed evidence of heart disease.

In all, Williams found, a coroner or medical examiner observed at least 1 predisposing factor in nearly 88% of the cases studied. In more than 35%, at least 2 such factors were confirmed.

Williams pointed out to Force Science News that the prevalence of predisposing factors is roughly the same among subjects who die after being TASERed and those who die suddenly in custody without any TASER involvement—further indication that the use of the electronic weapon “is not creating any special risk.”
On the other hand, he notes, “[T]he risk of sudden death following violent exertion, such as a struggle with police or straining against restraints, increases manifold for people with predisposing factors.”
TASER failures. Interestingly, Williams documents a high rate of TASER failure associated with post-TASERing deaths; either the electronic application did not stop the individual or stopped him only temporarily and “some other form of force had to be used to get the subject under control.” Among Group 1 cases, “the TASER pulse was ineffective in subduing the target” some 71% of the time. In Group 2, the ineffective rate was nearly 60%.

This may suggest the exceptionally high level of agitation and violent determination in subjects who end up dying as compared to other offenders who are TASERed, where the effectiveness level is much higher.

Moreover, the vast majority of subjects in both Groups 1 and 2 did not fatally collapse within 5 to 15 seconds after the application of a TASER device, “an indication that the current from the TASER pulses did not affect their hearts’ rhythm” as critics often conjecture, Williams says.

Media/activist shortcomings. TASER critics and the media have emphasized that the number of deaths after use of electronic devices is rising, and they conclude that this increase is occurring because TASERs cause deaths. Fallacious thinking, Williams insists.

“First, there is no evidence that the total number of custody deaths is rising,” he states. Deaths after TASER use are rising, but that’s because the number of police agencies in the U.S. equipping officers with TASERs has increased more than 10 fold since 2001.

What activists and the media seize upon, he says, is a correlation between TASER use and sudden death. “[T]his is an unscientific linking of 2 events” just because one follows another, Williams writes, not a true cause-and-effect relationship. “The sun rises after the cock crows, but that doesn’t mean there’s a causal relationship,” he offers as comparison.

Indeed, he notes, other studies have shown “a much higher correlation between sudden death and heart disease, sudden death and the use of…drugs, and sudden death and bizarre behavior than between sudden death and the use of a TASER… [T]ens of thousands of people who have been shocked with a TASER device survived without ill effects.”

Williams points out that investigators “usually need several days or weeks to determine the facts, complete the investigation, and determine whether a TASER pulse, or any other factor, played a role in an unexpected death.”

Typically, the media prominently play initial stories of post-TASERing deaths, but the public gets “little sense of the results of the investigations or of the coroners’ findings.” News reports presented one case he cites in his study “as being related to the discharge of a TASER device, but tests proved that the device was not properly charged and could not have delivered a shock.”

continued

Often results indicating that TASERing was not a death factor are buried in little-read sections of newspapers or totally ignored by tv news. Williams tells of one particularly egregious example of post-investigation reporting in which the headline read: “Cocaine Blamed for TASER Death.”

“Trying to educate the media is hopeless,” Williams told FSN. Like TASER's activist critics, “too many in the media have an agenda. That’s obvious when you read their articles.”

In the future, Williams is hopeful that a central database will be created at the federal level to collect meaningful information on in-custody deaths, similar to the reporting that exists for crime records. This would make possible a more comprehensive ongoing analysis of the role played by the TASER and other factors in suspect fatalities.

Meanwhile, he continues gathering information on his own in anticipation of eventually revising and updating his study. He’d like to hear from people who have observations or contributions regarding his work—including critics.

“I’m open to debate and discussion,” he says. “If anyone can show me I’m wrong, I’d welcome it. I’m a Little League umpire, so I’m used to criticism.”

To contact Williams, you can email him at: howardewilliams@msn.com

[Thanks to Wayne Schmidt, executive director of Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, for tipping us to Chief Williams’ study.]
The FSRC was launched in 2004 by Executive Director Bill Lewinski, PhD. - a specialist in police psychology -- to conduct unique lethal-force experiments. The non-profit FSRC, based at Minnesota State University-Mankato, uses sophisticated time-and-motion measurements to document-for the first time-critical hidden truths about the physical and mental dynamics of life-threatening events, particularly officer-involved shootings. Its startling findings profoundly impact on officer training and safety and on the public's naive perceptions.
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continued

Often results indicating that TASERing was not a death factor are buried in little-read sections of newspapers or totally ignored by tv news. Williams tells of one particularly egregious example of post-investigation reporting in which the headline read: “Cocaine Blamed for TASER Death.”

“Trying to educate the media is hopeless,” Williams told FSN. Like TASER's activist critics, “too many in the media have an agenda. That’s obvious when you read their articles.”

In the future, Williams is hopeful that a central database will be created at the federal level to collect meaningful information on in-custody deaths, similar to the reporting that exists for crime records. This would make possible a more comprehensive ongoing analysis of the role played by the TASER and other factors in suspect fatalities.

Meanwhile, he continues gathering information on his own in anticipation of eventually revising and updating his study. He’d like to hear from people who have observations or contributions regarding his work—including critics.

“I’m open to debate and discussion,” he says. “If anyone can show me I’m wrong, I’d welcome it. I’m a Little League umpire, so I’m used to criticism.”

To contact Williams, you can email him at: howardewilliams@msn.com

[Thanks to Wayne Schmidt, executive director of Americans for Effective Law Enforcement, for tipping us to Chief Williams’ study.]
The FSRC was launched in 2004 by Executive Director Bill Lewinski, PhD. - a specialist in police psychology -- to conduct unique lethal-force experiments. The non-profit FSRC, based at Minnesota State University-Mankato, uses sophisticated time-and-motion measurements to document-for the first time-critical hidden truths about the physical and mental dynamics of life-threatening events, particularly officer-involved shootings. Its startling findings profoundly impact on officer training and safety and on the public's naive perceptions.
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The Experts on Excited Delirium
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Introduction
Over the past decade, increased attention has been paid to the sudden and seemingly inexplicable deaths of some highly agitated subjects being held in police custody. In most of these cases, the force required to restrain or incapacitate the suspect was not sufficient to cause death.

Our colleagues in Miami-Dade County, Florida, first described the syndrome of excited delirium associated with cocaine abuse. The symptoms of excited delirium include bizarre and/or aggressive behavior, shouting, paranoia, panic, violence towards other people, unexpected physical strength, and hyperthermia. Throughout the United States and Canada, these cases are frequently associated with psychostimulant abuse, representing the extreme end of a psychiatric continuum of drug abuse effects. However, reports of acute exhaustive mania, physical restraint, Pepper Spray or TASER and sudden death also have been reported that are not related to abused drugs, suggesting further that an underlying central nervous system disorder was the precipitating cause of lethality. Such victims of excited delirium have provoked allegations of police misconduct, unnecessary force and improper TASER deployment.

Medical examiners often have extreme difficulty in identifying the cause of death, but frequently drug intoxication is considered as a contributing factor or cause of death. While the precise cause and mechanism of these deaths remain controversial, we have demonstrated abnormalities in brain that define and confirm the occurrence of the excited delirium syndrome.

What to Know
Fact: ED is a medical emergency that presents itself as a law enforcement problem.
- Early and advanced coordination with EMS is key.

Fact: ED is not easy to recognize.
- Training is important so that dispatch or other personnel recognize behavioral signs.

Fact: ED containment requires backup personnel.
- Do not approach until it is safe to do so and always ensure several officers are present.

Fact: ED victims exhibit superhuman strength and are impervious to pain.
- Restraint positions and use of electronic control devices (TASER®) to override the CNS.

Fact: ED is a life-threatening emergency.
- Get the subject into acute medical care quickly.

TASER is easy on the heart: A study of the effect of TASERs on human and animal hearts suggests that he weapons are unlikely to harm the human heart
Nov 26, 2007

TASER is easy on the heart

A study of the effect of TASERs on human and animal hearts suggests that he weapons are unlikely to harm the human heart. The work was done by researchers in the UK and involved laboratory experiments and computer simulations. The team concluded that the jolt from the weapon was not enough cause the heart to beat irregularly.

The TASER is a battery-operated electrical incapacitation weapon that works by firing two tethered barbs at a person -- and then sending pulses of high-voltage electricity through the tether wires. While this causes involuntary muscle contraction and intense pain in the unfortunate target, the TASER is used by many police forces as a less-lethal alternative to firearms. However, several people have died after being struck by a TASER, leading to some controversy and concern regarding the potential negative effects of the device on the heart.

Now, a multidisciplinary research collaboration led by the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) has examined the possibility if the strike from two commercial TASERs: the M26 and X26 can cause the human heart to beat irregularly – a condition called cardiac arrhythmia. To do this, the researchers applied the TASER waveforms to a digitized human-body representation and modelled the current flow within its heart. These simulated currents were then applied to a guinea-pig heart in vitro (Phys. Med. Biol. 52 7193 ).

Shock results

The TASERS under investigation produce damped sinusoidal waves: the M26 generates a 50 kHz waveform with a current of 10-12 A, a peak voltage of nearly 1000 V and a 50 µs pulse duration; the X26 generates a 120 kHz wave with a peak voltage of around 300 V and a pulse duration of 120 µs. The research team applied these waveforms to the anterior chest wall of a numerical model of a human body using a dart separation of 225 mm - the distance that caused the highest current density on the heart.

By employing computational electromagnetic modelling, the team determined that the M26 TASER induced a peak absolute current density of 0.66 mA/2, spread over a circular region of approximately 25 mm in diameter on the right ventricle (beneath the upper probe). For the X26 TASER, the highest peak absolute current density was 0.11 mA/mm2, spread across a similar region.

The team then determined whether the TASER pulses could disrupt a beating guinea-pig heart. The choice of guinea-pig heart was partly based on the similarity of its electrocardiographic-wave configurations to those generated by a human heart.

The heart, which had been removed from the animal, was beating spontaneously. The M26 and X26 waveforms were applied to the surface of the heart using an electrode. At the maximum current densities predicted by the human model (0.66 and 0.11 mA/2), the pulses did not cause the heart to beat erratically. Indeed, the current densities of both devices had to be increased by at least a factor of 60 before erratic heartbeats were seen.

As a result of the simulations and experiments, the team concluded that there is a wide safety margin between the intensity of a TASER strike and the level at which a human heart would beat irregularly. The team did, however, caution that factors such as the consumption of alcohol or some drugs, or an existing heart condition could reduce this safety margin in some individuals.

"This paper provides an important first step in determining the bioelectric effects of TASERs on the heart," commented Brad Roth, associate professor in the department of physics at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. "I have many concerns about TASERs, but the induction of a cardiac arrhythmia appears to be less of a problem than I would have initially guessed."

"Given the controversy surrounding the use of the TASER, there has been astonishingly little research into its safety," commented Kenneth Foster, professor of bioengineering and electrical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania. "We could have guessed that the risks of cardiac events are rather low, since TASER International markets the weapon by sending them to police conventions and by now, hundreds of police officers have tased themselves without mishap. It is nevertheless reassuring see good studies being done that support this conclusion."

About the author

Tami Freeman is science editor on medicalphysicsweb.
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