Guardian Angel Personal Alcohol Test for Holiday DUI Prevention Programs

    SAN FRANCISCO--Dec. 5, 2002--Millions more cars on the road and celebrations that include drinking have always comprised a deadly formula when it comes to driving during the holidays. With alcohol-related highway deaths climbing an alarming five percent in the past three years -- hitting 17,448 last year, some 41 percent of all traffic deaths -- the senseless highway carnage has led key stakeholders in the highway safety battle to redouble their efforts to include new preventative and educational programs as a complement to aggressive enforcement initiatives.
    In just-launched holiday and year-round DUI prevention initiatives by law enforcement, employers, retailers, and insurance companies, the newest twist is the distribution of an innovative new educational tool, the pocket-sized Guardian Angel Personal Alcohol Test(TM), to raise the nation's conscience about the problem, encourage personal responsibility and help enable individuals to make more informed decisions after drinking.
    "I believe, as do many of my peers, that Guardian Angel's unique and important product will help prevent DUIs and save lives in America," said William B. Berger, Chief of the North Miami Beach Police Department and the immediate past president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the largest law enforcement organization in the world with over 19,000 members. "Our use of the Guardian Angel Personal Alcohol Test in our community educational outreach efforts has been a highly successful approach that now has been mirrored by law enforcement agencies in 16 states."
    Highway patrols and state police agencies including Colorado, Wyoming, California and Rhode Island, DUI coalitions such as the Southern Arizona DUI Task Force, and city police departments including Washington DC, North Miami Beach, Carbondale, IL, Conventry, CT, Tucson, Lynchburg, VA and Santa Clara, CA, believe these easy-to-use saliva-activated test strips help educate Americans about their Blood Alcohol Content (BAC), enabling better decision making after drinking. That's why these and other law enforcement agencies have launched an unparalleled educational effort to distribute hundreds of thousands Guardian Angel tests, often attached to customized educational cards with DUI facts, to the public.
    "Years of aggressive enforcement and media coverage of the drunk driving problem still haven't succeeded in solving the problem," said Colonel Cox of the Wyoming Highway Patrol. "Now, it's time to take a new approach. We must raise awareness among those who don't even realize they are part of the problem. Two-thirds of DUI arrests are first-time offenders, and many of them make an honest mistake when they get behind the wheel. If we can reach those people and give them a tool that enables them to make more informed decisions, we believe it will be an important step in making our roads safer."
    Many agencies, such as the Rhode Island State Police, which recently launched a Guardian Angel campaign titled "Educate, Then Designate," believe Guardian Angel supports ongoing designated driver messages. The belief is that people who are entertaining will use the test strips as an intervention tool to urge their guests to use designated drivers or call a taxi.
    Guardian Angel, which also is sold directly to consumers by socially responsible retailers nationwide, is the first widely distributed tool to help fight drunk driving through BAC education. A user simply soaks a test strip on their tongue, and in just two minutes, the pad changes color based on the user's BAC. By matching the resulting color to a "risk meter" on the package, users can quickly estimate their alcohol level. The Guardian Angel test is intended to be used solely as a guide and an indicator of alcohol level, as it will not provide an exact measurement. Instead, it estimates BAC within three ranges experts deem as highly indicative of risk, and the package clearly states that it is best not to drink and drive even at low BAC levels.
    Employers also are getting behind the awareness and education effort. Safety officers at a number of military bases have distributed the strips to their personnel, event planners are including it in holiday parties, and corporations are adding it to their health and wellness employee campaigns. Further, insurance companies have embraced Guardian Angel as a way to highlight "safe driver" rate programs and show policyholders that they care about their safety.
    Jeff Scult, Vice President of Guardian Angel, said, "We are proud to be partnering with stakeholders of all kinds to achieve a mutual goal; making the highways safer during this holiday season and all year long. We believe education, complementing aggressive enforcement, can make a meaningful difference in the fight against drunk driving, and we are honored that stakeholders have been galvanized to adopt this approach as well."
    Guardian Angel Personal Alcohol Tests are available for less than $2 for a multi-strip package and can be found at thousands of checkout stands nationwide.

    About Guardian Angel Holdings, Inc.

    Guardian Angel Holdings, Inc. (GAI), a privately held San Francisco-based company, uses state-of-the-art test strip technology to provide innovative consumer products that enable better health and wellness decisions. GAI's first product, the Personal Alcohol Test, received commendations of excellence in the 2001 and 2002 National Commission Against Drunk Driving (NCADD) awards programs. The kit, typically sold at front checkout, is in thousands of retail locations nationwide including Winn-Dixie, CVS/pharmacy, Safeway, Eckerd Drugs, Kroger Supermarkets, Stop-n-Shop, Albertson's, Conoco, Publix, Sunoco and drugstore.com. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of free samples have been distributed to consumers by law enforcement agencies in 16 states, insurance companies and employers, with the intent to help prevent tragedies before they occur. Law enforcement programs have been undertaken by such leading agencies as the Colorado State Patrol, the California Highway Patrol and the District of Columbia Police Department.
    The Company has received angel funding from investors including former or current senior executives of Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, AIM Management, Whistle Communications, Wells Fargo, WebTV, Inktomi and others. Please visit the Company's website at www.GuardianAngel.com or call 1-877-4A-ANGEL for more information.