阅读材料——16健康：防酗酒装置.doc

The electronic fink that will squeal if you drink 04 December 2009 by Jim Giles Magazine issue 2737. Subscribe and get 4 free issues. For similar stories, visit the Crime and Forensics , US national issues and Drugs and Alcohol Topic Guides MEMORIAL day weekend 2007 is one that Lindsay Lohan might rather forget. An actor better known for her off-screen antics than her starring roles, Lohan crashed her Mercedes in Santa Monica, California, while over the legal alcohol limit. She checked into rehab. A month-and-a-half later, in July, Lohan emerged and declared that she would clean up her act. Within days she was again caught driving while over the limit. This celebrity story has a twist, however. As part of her efforts to stay sober, Lohan wore an alcohol-monitoring anklet. When photos of her wearing the anklet hit the press, it was the first time many people had heard of such a thing. Yet devices like these are transforming the way alcohol offenders are dealt with in the US. In the past weve said that if you dont stop drinking and driving, well stop you from driving, says Bill Mickelson, who has worked with the devices as part of a sobriety programme in South Dakota. That never got to the heart of the problem. So weve developed a way to stop you drinking. Stopping drink-drivers from driving didnt always work. Now we have a way to stop them drinking Lohan wore her anklet voluntarily, but most wearers have no choice if they wish to avoid jail. So in the not-too-distant future, could you find yourself wearing such a device if you misbehave after having a few too many? Is this the first step towards a Big Brother age even more intrusive than that envisaged by George Orwell, where the authorities are automatically alerted whenever you consume any substance deemed undesirable? And is this kind of monitoring reliable? Traces of most drugs linger in our bodies for days or weeks, so random tests every few days can detect most use. Alcohol, however, leaves the body so qui