The use of the TASER as a less lethal law enforcement weapon has greatly increased with the new TASER® X26 model. However, there are a number of reports of sudden deaths of suspects following TASER exposure. Although the effects of the TASER have been poorly studied, it is generally regarded as safe (2, 7). Most of the data supporting the product's approval by the U.S. Consumer Product and Safety Commission were based on theoretical calculations and not on the basis of animal or human studies (10). Individuals who have died following TASER exposure tend to be in heightened states of physiological stress due to illicit drug use, especially phencyclidine and cocaine (7, 13), or in combination with heightened metabolic and physiological stress after a struggle with law enforcement officers. There are also several deaths reported in subjects after TASER exposure who were found not to be under the influence of drugs, although these cases generally involved subjects with "excited delirium" and other comorbid factors that were more likely to be related as the cause of the subject's death (1, 9, 14). To date there has been only one human study published on the effects of TASER exposure. In a study funded by TASER International, Ho et al. (5) were unable to detect, following a 5 s TASER exposure in a healthy population, any inducedelectrical dysrhythmias or cardiac cellular damage that could be related to sudden death. However, they did not report blood pH, and metabolic acidosis could increase the risk of cardiac arrest. Because of its widespread use, it is important to assess the level of physiological stress from TASER exposure that could be a contributing factor to the incidents of sudden death. The purpose of this study was to determine the physiological stress, including ventilatory and blood pH and lactate concentration, from a standard 5 s TASER exposure in a healthy population.
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