Taser International Revises Their Sales Pitch About Product Safety

The supplier of CMPD's newly purchased Tasers, has made a sudden change in the defense of their product's safety.

The reason is an article published by the American Heart Association's journal, "Circulation," which presents the first ever scientific, peer-reviewed evidence that Tasers can cause cardiac arrest and death.

The article, written by Electrophysiologist Dr. Douglas Zipes of Indiana University, marks the first time that a research paper with "peer review" has been published. Additionally "Circulation" published an editorial on the the use of Tasers.

The conclusions of Dr. Zipes' article, which looks at eight cases involving the TASER X26 ECD states: "ECD stimulation can cause cardiac electric capture and provoke cardiac arrest resulting from ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation. After prolonged ventricular tachycardia/ventricular fibrillation without resuscitation, asystole develops."

Taser International's website until recently stated, "There is no reliable published data that proves Taser ECDs (Tasers) negatively affect the heart."

With the publication of Dr. Zipes' article, the above statement has been removed, replaced with, a statement that quotes a May Department of Justice study, "While exposure to Conducted Energy Devices (CEDs) is not risk free, there is no conclusive medical evidence that indicates a high risk of serious injury or death from the direct effects of CED's (Tasers)."

An abstract of the article and the editorial can be found here and a related article in the New York Times can be found here.