Consumer

Some Believe New Product Encourages Drunk Driving

DALLAS (CBS 11 News) ― A new lozenge promises to remove the smell of alcohol, tobacco and food from your breath.

The product, called Antipoleez, looks like a piece of candy. A blonde female cop on the packaging and the product's name seems to suggest it's your get out of jail free card.

"I can't imagine someone would come up with a product that would encourage, especially young people, to fool not just the police but themselves," said Susan Bragg, a member of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Doyce Grant, whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver, isn't for anything that appears to promote drunk driving. "She was run over by a lady who had $20 worth of drinks," said Grant.

Police say the breath mint won't work on them.

"There are a lot of ways to determine if someone's intoxicated, usually the smell of the breath is one of the last of those things," said Janice Crowther, Dallas Police Department.

The man behind the product said he wasn't encouraging drunk driving.

"The product is not for people who want to get wasted and get behind the wheel," said the company's president Vladimir Slazniy.

The lozenges are on sale in some stores and on the internet. Three dollars buys eight lozenges. Purchased in bulk, consumers can get 96 servings in the "frat pack."

Masking alcohol isn't something Taryn Cramer wants to think about while she prepares for the "Walk Like Madd" event taking place on Saturday. One of her friends was killed by a drunk driver.

"She was running across the street with her boyfriend and she bent down to like pick up her shawl and a drunk driver came and hit her," said Cramer.

Each year, 1,600 people are killed by a drunk driver in Texas.

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