State’s Toxicology Chief Retires
INDIANAPOLIS - After 12 years as one of the state’s leaders in
the battle to keep impaired drivers off the roadways, James E. Klaunig,
Ph.D., has retired as director of the State Department of Toxicology and
as the state toxicologist.
Dr. Klaunig, who will continue as professor and director of toxicology
at the Indiana University School of Medicine, worked closely with law
enforcement, prosecutors, the courts and the legislature to reduce the
number of drunk or impaired drivers on Indiana roads and to upgrade the
state’s alcohol and drug testing equipment and procedures.
During his tenure, he was active in training police officers through
the breath alcohol testing and training program and he worked with judges
and prosecutors so they had a better understanding of the figures and
the science behind the forensic program. He was responsible for upgrading
the alcohol testing and drug testing equipment used by the state and revised
state procedures to raise the level of professionalism and scientific
integrity in the department. He also actively promoted the development
of a soon-to-be-completed joint laboratory venture with the Indiana State
Police and the Indiana Department of Health.
He was a member of the Governors Council on Impaired and Dangerous Driving,
where he supported the amendment to reduce the legal limit for impaired
driving from .1 to .08 which passed in the 2001 legislature. He also was
a member of the Indiana Controlled Substances Advisory Board, the Indiana
Pesticide Review Board, the U.S. EPA Advisory Board and the National Toxicology
Program Board of Scientific Councilors.
Dr. Klaunig was honored Oct. 16 at a reception where he was awarded a
Sagamore of the Wabash on behalf of the governor’s office by Sen.
Tom Wyss (R-Fort Wayne), who spent more than a decade fighting to reduce
the state’s legal blood-alcohol content level for impaired driving.
The IU School of Medicine has a history in efforts to get impaired drivers
off the road. In 1931, biochemist Rolla Neil Harger developed the “Drunk-o-meter,”
which measured the amount of alcohol on a person’s breath. The device
was a forerunner to the Breathalyzer, invented by one Harger’s former
students, Robert Borkenstein.
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Media Contact: Mary Hardin
317-274-7722
mhardin@iupui.edu
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