HWN Suggests

Why Do Police Use Tear Gas When It Was Banned in War?

“Tear gas” is an umbrella term for riot-control agents with chemical irritants, but the name is a misnomer. As researchers Pierre-Nicolas Carron and Bertrand Yersin explain in the BMJ: British Medical Journal, it’s “not a gas at all, but a toxic chemical irritant in the form of powder or drops mixed to variable concentrations (1–5%) in a solvent, and delivered with a dispersion vehicle (a pyrotechnically delivered aerosol or spray solution).” The immediate effects of these agents are burning sensations on the skin, choking, coughing, tearing, and sometimes nausea.

read full article

Featured

 So you’ve been sprayed and gassed…

Clinical effects can occur within seconds and are generally transient, resolving within 30 minutes. Prolonged exposure or exposure to a large dose, especially in a closed environment, has been associated with more severe effects, including burns, laryngospasm and chemical pneumonitis. Death is rare.

 The disturbing history of how tear gas became the weapon of choice against protesters

The chemical weapon was originally marketed to police as a way to turn protesters “into a screaming mob.”

Articles of Interest

Clearing the Fog of War Surrounding Battlefield Use of Tear Gas

RCA may not lawfully be deployed to deliberately target combatants, but it is misleading to claim they can never be employed during combat.

How Tear Gas Works: A Rundown of the Chemicals Used on Crowds

Before the tearing, the choking and the pouring mucus, tear gas burns. It causes searing pain in the eyes, skin, lungs and mouth—or anywhere it touches. “It can be overwhelming and incapacitating. You can be forced to shut your eyes and cannot open them,” says Sven-Eric Jordt, an anesthesiologist at Duke University. And then comes the coughing and the nausea and the vomiting. What causes these chemicals to have such devastating effects on the human body?

Irritant Incapacitant Exposure (Lacrimators, Riot Control Agents, Tear Gas)

Exposed eyes should be irrigated with copious amounts of tepid water or saline for at least 15 minutes, and contact lenses should be removed. If available, use a Morgan Lens (MorTan, Missoula, Mont.). Washing the skin with water will remove the residue but will not inactivate it. Removal of contaminated clothing will aid in preventing reexposure. Effects on the eyes and respiratory system generally dissipate within 15 to 30 minutes of cessation of exposure.

Lack of study and oversight raises concerns about tear gas

Haar said her research shows that tear gas has also been getting stronger over the years. She said she is particularly concerned about the unknown health effects of silicon that is sometimes added to tear gas to make it last longer in the air and on surfaces.

Pepper Spray, Tear Gas, and Rubber Bullets: A Witches’ Brew of Toil and Trouble

Bloom and Bloom take on a topical matter: eye injuries related to protests and civil unrest. They focus on publicly available data regarding a witches’ brew of chemical irritants, such as pepper spray and tear gas, and kinetic impact projectiles, such as rubber and plastic bullets, all used by US law enforcement agencies to quell crowds deemed dangerous...

Preparing for, Protecting Against, and Treating Tear Gas and Other Chemical Irritant Exposure: A Protestor’s Guide

As people around the world take to the streets to protest against police brutality, they are often being met with violent crackdowns by law enforcement officers firing tear gas and other crowd-control weapons. Deceptively known as “less-lethal,” these weapons can in fact cause severe injuries and even death when used with excessive force. Physicians for Human Rights has worked extensively on the health impacts of these weapons and has issued the following guidance...

Tear Gas and Pepper Spray Toxicity

Tear gas and pepper spray are a group of heterogeneous agents known under broader categories as riot control agents, harassing agents, incapacitating agents, or lacrimators. Although initially utilized by the military in World War I, they are now used for personal protection or by law enforcement agencies as a non-lethal option for subduing combative subjects as well as crowd control. As a group, these substances cause acute eye pain, tearing, skin irritation, and respiratory tract irritation.

Tear gas and pepper spray: What protesters need to know

Experts discuss the use and chemistry of the riot-control agents and how to neutralize their effects.

Tear Gas and the Politics of Protest Policing

Tear gas is banned in international warfare, and its health risks are well-documented. Still, it remains a crowd-control agent of choice for police worldwide.

Tear gas at protests: How to protect yourself and what to do if you are exposed

Even though you may immediately want to hose off or shower, it's best to wait a few hours for the powder to dry, according to Guldin. Once it's dry, and you are safe and have access to a hose or shower, water can help remove the substance.

Tear gas in America: Cry the Beloved Country

Tear gas agents are divided into “C” agents, and “pepper spray” and are currently being used by law enforcement. CN (1-chloroacetophenone) is more toxic, sometimes causing skin blistering in addition to eye lacrimation. It was replaced by CS...

Tear Gas Is Way More Dangerous Than Police Let On — Especially During the Coronavirus Pandemic

In the middle of a respiratory pandemic, law enforcement agencies have used tear gas in especially dangerous ways. The chemical agent also seeps into homes, contaminates food, furniture, skin and surfaces, and can cause long-term lung damage.

Tear Gas: An Investigation

Its widespread abuse raises questions about the lack of regulations of appropriate use or standardised formulations of toxicity, the questionable decision-making of those in control of police operations, and the lack of training of many police officers deploying it.

There are many types of ‘tear gas.’ Here’s how to tell the difference.

There are four main kinds of aerosols that police and military use in crowd control: irritant incapacitants (also called riot control agents), lacrimators, sensory incapacitants and tear gases. And they are, in fact, not the same.

These Are the Effects of Tear Gas on the Human Body

The truth is, a large majority of us may never have to feel the direct effects of tear gas, but it's still important to know how the chemical can affect the human body—and what (if anything) you can do if you do find yourself in that situation. We asked physicians who's most at-risk for suffering from tear gas, what injuries are associated with the substance, and what you should do immediately after being exposed.

What to Do If You’re Exposed to Tear Gas

While milk might provide some cooling relief to irritation, it doesn’t do much to help people exposed to tear gas. “With pepper spray, milk helps break down those oils,” says Bhuyan. “Diluted baby shampoo is another option. Milk for tear gas isn’t doing a lot except potentially providing some comfort.”

Why is tear gas banned in war but not from peaceful protests?

The tear gas that police fired ahead of Trump’s visit to St. John’s as well as other similar chemicals fall within a substantial exception to the global prohibition against chemical weapons enshrined in the Chemical Weapons Convention. Just as it’s not legal to shell an opposing army with sarin or mustard gas, it’s also illegal to fire off commonly used riot control agents such as chloroacetophenone (CN) and chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS) in war. Against protestors in one’s own country, however? Perfectly legal.

Resources

Riot Control Agents

Chemical riot control agents are used all over the world. Tear gas and pepper spray are household names and the latter can be purchased for personal protection with the simple click of a button from many online retailers.4,9 From Parisian police using tear gas and pepper spray to disperse soccer fans, to Philadelphia police tear-gassing protestors, and Hong Kong law enforcement employing tear gas to disband crowds it is hard to deny the recent increase of media coverage of these riot control agents