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Diabetics get mistaken for Drunks by Virginia's breath tester

Virginia to Diabetics: We Don’t Care

Research indicates that as many as one in seven drivers are diabetic.  This figure includes drivers who may be affected but do not have an official diagnosis.  Despite this fact, Virginia’s latest breath tester can’t tell the difference between diabetes and intoxication.  Now, diabetics who drive in Virginia are being wrongly convicted of DWI.  Worse, it appears that Virginia knew about this problem at the time it ordered the machine… and chose to cover it up.

When Virginia initially requested bids for a new evidentiary breath test device to determine blood alcohol content it correctly required the machine to distinguish among alcohols.  This requirement was intended to prevent wrongful convictions.  When the manufacturer Virginia wanted to hire admitted that its product could not meet this specification, officials quietly dropped the requirement but nonetheless trained operators, taught judges and represented to prosecutors that the machine performed as specified.

Drinking alcohol is called ethanol.  Diabetics naturally produce another type of alcohol – isopropanol – in certain stages of the disease.  Even though Virginia’s breath tester is only supposed to measure blood alcohol content of ethanol it registers isopropanol on the breath of diabetics.  This reading results in false evidence which in turn results in wrongful DWI convictions.

An ancient expression about the measure of a society’s morality is how it treats the sick.  Diabetics have enough challenges without the threat of wrongful DWI conviction.  Join me in challenging Virginia to cease this shameful practice.

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