from wire services
Boston - A new study says that stun guns or tasers used by police are safe for most people and are an efficient and effective tool which law enforcement should continue to use.
Allegedly an independent study examined the tasers to "try and put an end to the long-running controversy" in regards to the tools as many have argued in the past that they are not safe.
Researchers at Wake Forest University reviewed 1,000 cases involving the use of stun guns. They found that 99.5% of people who were tasered by the stun guns experienced very mild injuries such as a bruise or scrape. No mention is made of psychological or longer term mental effects from being jolted with electricity. The brain uses electrical impulses to create memories and perform it's various functions.
Dr. Gary Vilke, professor of clinical medicine at the University of California at San Diego agrees with the findings.
"Research with police officers shows only minor injuries, such as those related to muscle contractions, no electrical injuries and one vertebral injury," he says. "I do not see any future problems."
Beyond the occasional death or minor injury the study found no other serious physical consequence from the use of the stun guns and suggests that the effects of a taser are minimal.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=3695594&page=1
But Dr. Corey Slovis, professor and chairman of emergency medicine at Vanderbilt University, says other recent research suggests that the weapons may be dangerous for some.
"I think that Tasers in normal subjects are safe," he says, "but I am concerned that emerging evidence may show that they may change the underlying heart rhythm of individuals who do not have a normal conduction system -- such as those using cocaine, those who are dehydrated, agitated, hypoxic or those taking anti-psychotics."
http://www.gearlog.com/2007/10/tasers_deemed_safe_nation_rejo.php
Guess what, kids? Tasers are safe!
In the "first large, independent study of injuries associated with tasers", researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine found that of 1,000 people subjected to a taser's electric charge, 99.7 percent suffered only mild injuries.
The other .3 percent were hospitalized or died, but researchers found that the taser had only exacerbated an existing condition. Um, like an aversion to mind numbing bolts of electricity being applied to one's body?