XPost: uk.legal, uk.politics.drugs   
   From: drjohn@NOSPAM.hotpotmail.com   
      
   Pupil tests on drivers called into question   
      
   A multimillion pound Department for Transport (DfT) campaign to show how   
   pupil size can reveal drug use in drivers has been launched despite a DfT   
   report recommending that pupillary tests by police be discontinued.   
      
   The 2004 Road Safety Research Report to monitor the effectiveness of UK   
   Field Impairment Tests (FIT) said that examination using a pupillometer   
   'contributed very little' to FIT and overall accuracy was low.   
      
   Drugs such as opiates are known to cause pupil constriction whereas   
   cannabis, hallucinogens and stimulants are known to cause pupil dilation.   
   Despite its own report's recommendation to discontinue pupillary tests,   
   the DfT believes its £2.3m campaign (News 21.08.09) will be effective.   
   'The pupil testis used along with a range of other measures precisely   
   because pupil dilation can be caused by a number of things. However,   
   although drugs are not the only factors to have an involuntary effect on   
   the eyes they are one of the signs that the police can look for,' said a   
   spokesperson. 'The reason that we use this as the focus for the campaign   
   is that this effect on the eyes is well known among drug users but they   
   don't think that enforcement authorities know about it. Our research   
   showed that the target audience was very responsive to this message.'   
      
   Optician's clinical editor, Bill Harvey commented: 'A campaign to   
   highlight the dangers of drug taking while driving is commendable, but the   
   potential use of pupil diameter as evidence in prosecutions is fraught   
   with potential injustice. The erroneous suggestion that dilation is a   
   useful predictor of underlying illegal drug use has been shown to be   
   inaccurate.'   
      
   http://www.opticianonline.net/Articles/2009/09/04/24021/Pupil+te   
   ts+on+drivers+called+into+question.html   
      
   --   
   John Watson   
   London   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)