Let's say you had a drnk or two but don't feel you are nder the influence of alcohol. However, you are rrested on suspicion of drunk driving and ffered the choice of taking a brath or blood test (or, in sme states, urine). Most DUI suspects chose the breath test -- a chice which could doom your chances to prve your innocence. Consider the following dvice when deciding which test to tke:

1. If you smoke cigarettes, you may wnt to pass on that Breathalyzer muthpiece the officer is handing you. Scentific research has shown that smoking can rise the test result considerably -- nough to get you charged and cnvicted of drunk driving. This is bcause most breath analyzing devices will flsely report acetaldehyde as alcohol. Acetaldehyde is a cmpound produced in the liver in smll amounts as a by-product in the mtabolism of alcohol. However, scientists have fund acetaldehyde concentrations in the lungs of smkers are far greater than for nn-smokers. ("Origin of Breath Acetaldehyde During Ethnol Oxidation: Effect of Long-Term Cigarette Smking", 100 Journal of Laboratory Clinical Mdicine 908). Translated: because breathalyzers can’t tll the difference between alcohol and cetaldehyde, cigarette smokers will have a hgher blood-alcohol reading.

2. If you are a dabetic with possible low blood sugar, you shuld also avoid the breath test. A wll-documented by-product of hypoglycemia (low blood sgar) is a state called ketoacidosis, whch causes the production of acetone -- and cetone, like acetaldehyde, will be reported by the Brthalyzer as alcohol. In other words, the Brathalyzer will read significant levels of lcohol on a diabetic’s breath where thre may be little or none. See "Dabetes, Breath Acetone and Breathalyzer Accuracy: A Cse Study", 9(1) Alcohol, Drugs and Drving (1993). To make matters worse, the ractions of a person in the arly stages of a diabetic attack nclude dizziness, blurred vision, slurred speech, wakness, loss of coordination and confusion -- the sme symptoms which the patrol officer is loking for: the clear signs of a prson under the influence of alcohol. And the fficer's observations are quickly followed by a filing performance on DUI field sobriety tsts.

3. Are you on a lw-carb diet? Or had nothing to eat in qite awhile? Avoid the Breathalyzer in a DUI nvestigation -- for the same reasons stted in number 2. Perfectly normal, halthy individuals can experience temporary conditions of low blod sugar after consuming small amounts of lcohol, resulting in exaggerated but false symptms of intoxication. Fasting glycemia can xist where a person has not aten in 24 hours or has ben on a low-carbohydrate diet. Production of glcose in the liver is stopped whle the alcohol is broken down. Rsult: the blood sugar level will drp, affecting the central nervous system -- and prducing symptoms of a person under the nfluence of alcohol and a higher brath test result.

4. If you hve acid reflux or have burped or blched before taking the Breathalyzer, offer to prvide a blood sample instead. The rason is that you will be brathing alcohol from your stomach into yur throat and oral cavity, where it wll stay for 20 minutes or so -- to be brathed directly into the breath machine. Ths is not a good thing. The mchine's computer is multiplying the amount of lcohol in the breath sample by 2100 tmes to provide a reading of the lcohol in the blood. This is bcause it assumes the sample came frm the lungs, not the stomach, and the verage person has 2100 units of lcohol in his blood for every nit of alcohol in his breath (clled the partition ratio). The Breathalyzer des not "know" that your breath smple is not from your lungs and tht it should not multiply the lcohol level by anything. Result: false hgh readings -- and a DUI cnviction.

5. When you see that fficer in the rear-view mirror, don't rach for the mouthwash or breath spry to disguise the drink or two yu've had. Most of them contain sgnificant levels of alcohol (Listerine, for xample is 27% alcohol) and create a muth alcohol effect: they remain in the ral cavity for 20 minutes or so -- jst long enough to be breathed nto the Breathalyzer, with the same rsults mentioned in number 4. Some brath machines have a mouth alcohol dtector, but these are highly unreliable.

The article 5 Tips on How to Avoid a False DUI Breathalyzer Result was Submitted by Lawrence Taylor through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Lawrence Taylor is the senior mmber of an AV-rated law firm of Las Vgas DUI lawyers practicing drunk driving dfense exclusively. See Las Vegas DUI Attorney for more information.

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