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The reliability of the breathalyzer has been questioned extensively in recent years. This article addresses several of the key chemical issues that are central to the controversy surrounding the classic breath-alcohol tester.

On the Nature of Cyanide Poisoning A Rutgers University professor was accidentally killed by cyanide gas which formed from insecticide pellets he was spreading in a campus greenhouse to rid it of flies.. .. An autopsy . . . showed that he died from cardiorespiratory failure as a result of cyanide poisoning (1).An irony of air safety is that the airliners are built so well today that many passengers and crew members survive the actual impact (of a crash) but die in the flames that follow. Death often results from breathing the poisonous fumes generated by the burning plastic materials in the interior of the plane. One of the deadly by-products: cyanide (2).... in one of history's most bizarre suicide-murder rites (conducted at Jonestown, Guyana, under the direction of cult leader Jim Jones on November 18,1978). .. almost all of the (more than 900) victims had died from cyanide poisoning (3).These statements appeared in relatively recent news articles and, needless to say, are manifestly indicative of the often deadly reaction produced by contact with cyanide. Since the cyanide ion is the toxic species, substances that can produce t he ion in vivo must be considered dangerous. Among such substances are hydrogen cyanide (HCN) gas (HCN is a colorless liquid whose low boiling point of 25.5°C renders it. highly volatile); its aqueous solution-the weak acid, hydrocyanic ("prussic") acid; any of the soluble inorganic cyanides, such as sodium and potassium cyanide; and organic substances-notably, familiar cyanide-based polymeric materials and amygdalin, a cyanophoric (i.e., cyanogenetic) /3-glucoside commonly known as Laetrile1-that can generate cyanide ion through chemical or biochemical reaction. Sources ol Cyanide Ion Perhaps the most well-known of cyanide ion precursors is HCN, which has achieved this status as a consequence of its use in legally sanctioned "gas chamber" executions and in the genocidal mass killings sanctioned by the Nazis during World War II. As a consequence of HCN's ability to be "absorbed with great rapidity through the bronchial mucosa and alveoli (£>)." its inhalation produces the most rapidly developing form

Breath-alcohol analyzers used by law enforcement agencies to evaluate suspected driving-while-intoxicated (DWI) drivers are routinely calibrated with standard, dilute aqueous solutions of ethanol known as simulator solutions. The analyzers are deemed accurate if they generate results within an established margin of error consistent with ethanol concentrations equivalent to the actual concentrations of the simulator solutions. The fundamental flaw of this protocol is that it ignores the fact that a simulator solution is an ideal Henry’s law system, whereas a human test subject is not. Since breath-alcohol analysis is an application of Henry’s law, the level of accuracy ascribed to simulator-based calibrations cannot be applied to analyses involving humans because they are affected by physiological variables that can significantly impact the results of such analyses. This article addresses the importance of these variables, including blood:breath ratio variability, body temperature, and breathing pattern. Moreover, the article notes that, when standard ethanol-in-nitrogen compressed gas mixtures are used instead of aqueous simulator solutions to calibrate breath-alcohol analyzers, the same limitations of accuracy apply. Finally, emphasis is placed on the nature of the ideal calibration standard, namely that it should mimic the system to be analyzed, which is clearly not the case with the calibration protocol employed in breath-alcohol analysis.