TASER Electronic Control Devices Review Of Safety Literature

found. Additionally, the anesthetized animals were not ventilated and there were
no control animals used in the study that did not receive an ECD exposure. Thus
it was not possible to separate the effects of the anesthetic, lack of ventilation,
and the posture from the ECD exposure.
Since 2005, human studies have been performed by staff from several Emergency
Departments. ECD exposure volunteers were instrumented with a breathing
monitoring device which showed that the TASER X26 did not interfere with
breathing. 137
The first such study assessed the breathing capability of human subjects during
extended exposures to a TASER ECD. It comprised 52 resting human subjects
who underwent breath-by-breath gas exchange monitoring during a 15-second
discharge from a TASER X26. The subjects were randomized and placed on a
pulmonary function measurement device and received either 3 discharges of 5-
seconds each with a 1-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 researchers were unable to detect any respiratory impairment during either
prolonged continuous or prolonged intermittent ECD exposure in this study population.
It does not appear that prolonged ECD exposure causes a decreased tidal
volume, hypercapnia, hypoxia, or apnea.
The same group of researchers has also studied volunteers with continuous ECD
exposures up to 45-seconds and also found no breathing compromise.
The University of California at San Diego has also performed breathing studies
using the X26 ECD. 68 They found no impairment of breathing in any of the volunteers.
3.2. Acidosis
Two published studies by Ho, et al. have examined blood markers of acidosis. In
one study subjects were exposed to 5-second discharges of the TASER X26. 65
Serum bicarbonate was followed serially. In a “pure” uncompensated respiratory
acidosis, the serum bicarbonate should increase. The mean baseline bicarbonate
was 22.6 mmol/l. Immediately after the exposure, the mean bicarbonate was
22.0 mmol/l. This does not suggest an uncompensated respiratory acidosis.
In the related second published Ho, et al human study, subjects were asked to
exercise to physical exhaustion, and were then immediately exposed to a 15-
second discharge of the TASER X26. 138 Venous pH was drawn prior to exertion,
immediately after exertion, and immediately after the TASER ECD exposure. In
50