http://www.indymedia.org/display.php3?article_id=16539 Tear Gas and Pepper Spray Protection and History (english) by EF! Journal, Yule 2000 Edition 10:24am Tue Jan 2 '01 There are ways to protect yourself against Chemical Weapons, such as CS & CN Nerve gas, or OC (Oleocapsicum), also known as pepper spray. The following article is reprinted from The Earth First! Journal. For more information you can contact the MASHH Clinic Collective: POB 80793, Portland OR 97280 mashh@wildrockies.org. Other contacts: The Black Cross Health Care Collective, POB 11303, Portland, OR 97211 blackcrosspdx@hotmail.com, or Colorado Street Medics: mchr@rescueteam.com. There are ways to protect yourself against Chemical Weapons, such as CS & CN Nerve gas, or OC (Oleocapsicum), also known as pepper spray. The following article is reprinted from The Earth First! Journal. For more information you can contact the MASHH Clinic Collective: POB 80793, Portland OR 97280 mashh@wildrockies.org. Other contacts: The Black Cross Health Care Collective, POB 11303, Portland, OR 97211 blackcrosspdx@hotmail.com, or Colorado Street Medics: mchr@rescueteam.com. Exerpts from an article in the Yule 2000 edition of the EF! Journal: AVOID RISK OF TEAR GAS AND PEPPER SPRAY if you are: asthmatic, have respiratory problems or infections, pregnant or attempting to get pregnant, ill, wearing contacts, a child, elderly or physically handicapped person or have a poor immune system, seizure disorders, sleep disorders or eye infections. Avoidance is not always possible, so come prepared to every action. If you know that chemicals are about to be deployed, put on protective gear and clothing, remove your contacts, and try to get away and upwind. An obvious clue that chemical weapons are about to be deployed is the police putting on their gas masks. ANTIDOTE RECIPES: · Neutralizer #1: Carry a bottle of solution made up from water with 5% Baking Soda. · Neutralizer #2: Carry a bottle of solution made up from water and sodium metabisulphate ( sold as Campden tablets used in home brewing ) Superdeluxe Pregassing Antidote: Mix 8-10 eggs, 1 cup water and a teaspoon of baking soda in a bowl. Beat Mixture well. Keep refrigerated in small plastic bottles until a demonstration. Wipe the stuff on your face before gassing occurs. PREVENTION OF TEAR GAS AND PEPPER SPRAY EXPOSURE: What to do beforehand: · Do not wear contacts to the action. They can trap the chemical to your eyes and can lead to corneal damage. Once your eyes are tearing and the eyelids are spasming shut, it will be very difficult to remove them. · Wash your scalp, hair and body in a non-scented castille soap ( such as Dr. Bronners) on the day of the action to rid your skin of oils and dead skin cells which help the chemicals bind to your skin · Avoid contacting any detergents; they provide a link between the oily base of the chemical weapon and your skin, allowing the chemicals to dissolve. Anything acidic will cause a stronger reaction. · Dont use makeup, oil-based sunscreen, or skin moisturizers. Dont wear vaseline, toothpaste or mineral oil for protection! Use only water-/alcohol- based sunscreen, clothing that covers your skin, and a wide brimmed hat. · Cover up as much as possible. Waterproof gloves and hair covers (such as plastic bags, shower caps or a rain hat) are useful, as are windbreakers and light rain gear. Wearing an external layer of synthetic, water-repellant or non-absorbing materials cinched or sealed at the wrists, ankles, and neck can prevent the irritant from reaching your skin. If possible, wear protective clothes you can throw away once theyve been soaked with chemicals. You can carry replacement clothes sealed in a bag. · Avoid fuzzy garments which can trap tear gas and pepper spray such as wool and heavy cotton. Synthetic, petroleum-based fabrics not covered with rain gear act like a wick, slowly releasing the chemicals for days afterwards. · A bandanna wet with apple cider vinegar over the nose and mouth helps, is cheap, and will be available if your mask gets stolen by the police. If you plan on wearing a gas mask, make sure it has shatter-resistant lenses and replaceable non-asbestos filters. An alternative to wearing a gas mask could be quality swimming goggles with shatterproof lenses along with a respirator that covers the nose and mouth. (It must have filters designed for paint stripper or hazardous gasses) The solvents are oily and will slowly dissolve rubber and plastic, so your goggles will provide temporary protection, because the chemicals eventually begin to irritate the skin beneath. BRING REPLACEMENT FILTERS if you can BASIC INFO ABOUT PEPPER SPRAY: The first thing to remember about exposure to these chemical weapons is that it is not the worst thing that can happen to you. The police use them not so much as weapons of pain, but more as tools of distraction. Pepper Spray, oleocapsicum ( OC), is applied to crowds via spray or pump bottles, and may be directly applied to the eyes and other sensitive membranes of locked down activists. It is hazardous to your health, sometimes fatal(100 fatalities in the US in 10 years, although none at activist protests so far). Chemical Weapons are skin and mucous membrane irritants and have their most powerful effect on the eyes, nose, mouth and breathing passages. Your eyes will tear, causing your vision to blur. Your eyelids may even spasm shut. Your nose may run and breathing will become difficult. You may cough and your skin may have a burning sensation. Disorientation, confusion, and anger are common. The propellants can cause cancer and be mutagenic. One form of tear gas (CN) used during the WTO protests was 50% solvent/propellant. A commonly used solvent, methylene chloride, is a highly toxic chemical also used as a pesticide and paint stripper which can cause altered central nervous system function and endocrine disruption. A significant number of women gassed in Seattle experienced immediate onset of menstruation outside their normal cycles. Some reported irregularities lasting for months. At least one miscarriage was reported. This may be due to the methylene chloride or other substances used as propellants. The short-term effects of tear gas can last up to an hour, pepper spray up to two hours. You can then return to the action, assuming you take care of yourself in the meantime and are adequately hydrated. GENERAL TREATMENT FOR TEAR GAS AND PEPPER SPRAY: · Be cool! Stay calm and focused. When your body heats up (from running or panicking for example), the irritation will increase. Your pores will open allowing more absorption of the chemicals. · Call out for help to get decontaminated. Dont touch your eyes or your face, as you may recontaminate yourself. Blow your nose, spit our chemicals. Rinse mouth and lips and spit with water. Lean forward so the chemicals fall directly on the ground, not on exposed skin. · Make your way to a safe space with fresh air where medics or unexposed comrades can help you. · If tear-gassed, face the wind, open your eyes, hold your arms out, and walk around to let fresh air decontaminate you. Take slow deep breaths of clean air. · If there are medics at your action, they will have gloves, and can give your eyes a flush with water. The medic may also have whole mild or a liquid antacid solution (like Maalox) they might use instead of water. AFTERCARE: · Drink lots of Water! Hydrate! Hydrate! Hydrate! · Be aware that entering into an enclosed room or space with contaminated clothes, hair and skin will contaminate the room. A room with carpets or textiles or furniture may reek for weeks and prevent you from detoxifying. Seal the clothes in a plastic bag until you can launder them with nasty harsh non-organic detergent that can dissolve the chemical solvents. Remember your inaction to decontaminate could affect someone who was not even at the action! · Decontaminate with a COLD shower. (keeps pores closed preventing chemical from entering the skin and bloodstream). Later, a hot shower, followed by a thorough scrubbing with 1-2 cups Epsom Salts or sea salt, which are then left on the skin for 10-15 minutes before a thorough follow-up wash, will help draw the toxins from your body. Wash your hair in a stong powerful detergent shampoo ( none of the eco-friendly stuff ) . You can put the epsom salts in bathwater if you prefer, and add 1 cup of Bentonite clay. · 2-4 charcoal tablets will help kidneys filter the chemical from your bloodstream · 4 drops of rescue remedy flower essence in 1 cup water will help your emotional, physical, and spirtual body. · Another quick antidote is Emergen-C or other eletrolyte mix high in Potassium. Bananas are also high in potassium. Miso soup is good for energy boosting, cellular nourishment and balancing electrolytes, add a seaweed like kelp. ( never boil miso!) Wheat grass juice or tablets, chlorophyll, and carrot juice are helpful. · Drink copious quantities of Nettle Tea: ½ gallon /day. Nettle helps the replenishment of acetylcholinesterase which is essential for nerve function and gets blocked by the chemicals. Add red clover ( a blood purifier), oatstraw (nervous system), licorice, coltsfoot, mullein or marshmallow for clearing ( the former) or soothing (the latter) the lungs, dandelion and burdock root for the liver if you really want to do it up. · Your liver must work overtime to filter out the toxins from chemical weapons exposure. Milk Thistle seeds (Silybum marianum) helps the liver regenerate new cells. You can grind the seeds and sprinkle on your food, or take in a vegetavble glycerin extract or powdered capsules. Use milk thistle for at least 3 months after exposure. · Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine, and fried or high fat foods for at least 2 weeks while detoxing after exposure. Increase your intake of bitter foods ( dandeliion leaves, grapefruit, cabbage) and dark green leafy vegetables ( kale, chard, spinach). Eat whole grains and root vegetables ( potatoes, beets, rutabagas, turmnips, artichokes) Your body needs plenty of potassium, magnesium and zinc following exposure. · Stress and grief from an action can get stuck in your body. This can show up as frayed nerves, disturbed sleep, nightmares, anziety, fear or depression. It can also trigger underlying stress from past events. Support your nervous system with hot oatmeal breakfasts, lavender flower or essential oil and oatmeal baths, or take internally an herbal formula of skullcap, oatstraw, hops, vervain, borage, and California poppy. · Hard exercise ( break into a good sweat). Long walks, hotsprings (hot-cold hydrotherapy is very beneficial), saunas, Swedish massage, yoga, meditation and debriefing/talking with your affinity group or friends will also be very helpful. · For more information, references for practitioners in your area, and info about trainings, contact the resources listed above. TAKE THE COPS TO COURT after being sprayed (also a reprint from Yule 2000 EF!J; No author claimed responsibility for the writing of any of these BTW) When I decided to do civil disobedience, the last thing on my mind was a civil lawsuit. While I am happy that the action was quite righteous and empowering, I wish I had put some thought into the potential for a lawsuit. Now, dont get me wrong, I have no delusion that lawsuits will save the planet or smash the state. Nor do I think that actions should be undertaken just for lawsuits. But large settlements might make the police think twice before they spray/beat you (or someone else) next time. I believe in revolution AND reform. While we are out in the streets protesting/rioting for our lives, I think it is important to think about what the result of the days actions will be and how we can continue the action by dragging the cops and their bosses through expensive legal battles. I am inspired by the story of a man beaten by the police in East St. Louis, Illinois. When he sued the city and won, he bankrupted them and was awarded city hall! Now that kind of ruling will bring about some radical reform. So, next time you are preparing for a day in the streets, keep in mind a few things: · Do not wear porous clothing such as wool, cotton or synthetic fleece. Instead, wear disposable clothing, preferably raingear. If you need to wear heavy clothing for protection, wear a poncho or plastic bag on top. · Do not tell the police that you think they are just doing their jobs and that you have nothing against them personally. Instead, attempt to convince the police that if they spray you, you WILL sue them, personally, and that they have alternatives to torturing you, such as talking to you, quitting their jobs, letting you stay until. Ask them if they enjoy torturing people. Clearly tell the officers that you do not wish to be sprayed, and if they spray you, you will not move/unlock anyway, so they should just save their chemical weapons for some other time. · Unfortunately getting sprayed with chemical does not LOOD painful. Photographs of people being sprayed look like they are being misted with houseplant sprayers. So, scream bloody murder every time you get sprayed or they hurt you in any way. Not only does it feel good to scream, but it looks better for the cameras and will help in any potential civil suit that follows. · Arrange to have lots of videographers and photographers on hand. Get audio too if possible. Make sure to get contact information for all of them, including all bystanders who record the event on their own. Collect the photos/videos and recordings as soon as possible after the action. · Get someone to keep the time and notes on what is happening when. Count the spray canisters used by which officer and attempt to retrieve on of the spent canisters (along with rubber and wooden bullets, etc) for evidence later. · Get descriptions of all officers and badge numbers. Keep notes on their behavior along with the time. · Keep a good list of witnesses and their phone numbers. Get witnesses to write down their entire experience as soon as possible after the action/event. HISTORY OF PEPPER SPRAY ( also reprinted from the YULE 2000 EF!J with additions from the report on Seattle, "Waging War on Dissent", available by writing wtolegal@yahoo.com) Dating back to at least ancient China, we can find the fiery lil red chili peppers stinging bite used not only as a zesty spice to a meal but also as a weapon. The Chinese put ground cayenne in a rice paper bag and flung it in the face of their opponents, and Japanese ninjas used ground pepper to disable opponents as well. During Japans Tukagawa Empire, police used the metsubishi, a box used to blow pepper into the eyes, as an instrument of political torture against the dispossessed. Chloracetophenone (CN) gas, or tear gas, was first created in 1870 in Germany. Ironically, during World War I, CN gas was used against the Germans . CN gas, or mace, was found by the British to be ineffective against rioters in the 1950s in Korea and Cyprus. One propellant used with CN gas, methylene chloride, is considered by the US Army research to be reasonably considered to be a carcinogen, and the army and NATO have removed it from their arsenals. CS came out in the 1950s, and was more effective, because it has the advantage of making victims eyes burn and water, their skin itch and noses run, and induces coughing and vomiting. Orthochlorobenzamalononitrile is the actual compound name. Like CN, CS is a white crystalline powder that is heated and exploded as gas. THE BASIC MANUALS SUPPLIED BY THE MANUFACTURERS REQUIRE THAT ANY PERSON OR GROUP OF PERSONS BEING SPRAYED WITH CS GAS BE GIVEN AN EXIT PATH. The end of 1999 saw a modernized CN used by the Seattle Police during the epic WTO (World Trade Organization) protests. Today in the United States, chilis are processed, mixed with DuPontäemulsifier, and sprayed at people of all sorts, but particularly folks that usually get the brunt of Americas police state: youth, people of color, those lacking capital, mental institution patients, elderly people in homes, and political dissidents. Basically, anyone who gets in the way of business as usual. Pain as a corporate/governmental tool of repression is obviously not a new thing, but the chemical concoctions we find launched, sprayed , and swabbed on us today are dangerous not only for the painful pepper, but also for the distilling solutions, toxic additives, and propellants used. Little, if any, real research has been done on the long-term effects of chemical agents, and there is essentially no regulation. Like genetically engineered foods, toxic waste, and other abominable corporate state schemes, chemical weapons are an unknown and we, and the Earth, are the experiment. Pepper spray in particular stands out as the newest and least-researched of the bunch. Also known as oleoresin of capsicum (OC) spray, pepper spray was originally introduced in the US in the 1980s by the Postal Service as a dog repellant. It was also used on bears and other animals. This OC gas is the most popular form among police forces today, because it causes involuntary physical reactions. This makes it more effective on persons on drugs, persons suffering from psychotic episodes, and animals whose nasal systems are different from humans. The FBI endorsed it as an official chemical agent in 1987 but it wasnt until 1991 that more than 3,000 local law enforcement agencies added it to their arsenals. This surge of interest hinged on a widely circulated and influential study by FBI special agent Thomas Ward. As the FBIs chief expert on OC, Ward peddled the painful stuff like he was in state of police-state-hallelujah. On February 12 1996, we find Thomas Ward pleading guilty to a single count felony for accepting $57,500 kickback from the manufacturers of Cap-Stun brand pepper spray. The second largest company in the growing pepper spray industry, Cap-Stun also happened to be owned by Wards very own wife, and coincidentally, was the exact brand recommended by Ward as far back as the mid-80s. Initially facing a $250,00 fine and five years in prison, Ward got off with two months in prison and three years probation. The FBI responded to his conviction by proclaiming it would continue to use Cap-Stun since it was unaware of any basis for finding that pepper spray is not safe and effective. Wards corrupt study is still cited today as justification for use of OC. Yet in Ottowa, Ontario; Berkeley, California; and Tucson, Arizona; police departments have chosen to stop using pepper spray due to the controversy (and costly lawsuits) it brings with it. It has been found to NOT be 100% effective in repelling attack, as Ward had claimed, and in fact often further angers the person or crowd it is intended to disperse. Pepper spray use continues to be debated, and the skepticism about this unpredictable weapon is growing, As we enter into the21st century, chemical weapons are used more and more by the police, as yet another tool to protect corporate profit and the status quo. There have been an increasing number of pepper spray incidents at protedts, often with nonviolent demonstrators being doused in the caustic chemincal. In countless, outrageous circumstances, OC spray is often used in a discriminatory way on low-income people of color. Since the early 90s, 100 people have died nationwide after being pepper-sprayed by police officers. Especially when restrained, people have suffocated or their hearts have stopped beating. In regard to long-term risk, the US Army has reported in internal documents that pepper gases and sprays are carcinogenic and mutagenic. Pepper spray incidents have also shown it to be fairly ineffective at subduing combative people, instead making recipients more angry. On top of all this, OC falls through the cracks of FDA (Food and Drug Administration) regulation by not being a food or a drug. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission, which oversees household products like toys and toasters, requires pepper spray to carry the same kind of warning label used for all possibly hazardous products, but thats the extent of its regulation. This required warning label ironically reads: Warning: irritant, avoid contact with eyes. For those who want to know whats in these chemical agents, material safety date sheets can sometimes be obtained ( this is where youll find things listed like DuPont emulsifier) However, OC is finally starting to be looked at with a critical eye and many groups are working to have it banned. Convicted FBI agent Wards promise was that it was 100% effective. A recent Berkeley Police Review Commission study found OC to not only be a serious health risk, but also ineffective at stopping an attack 53%-63% of the time. This study led to Berkeley banning it. In May of this year, a pivotal Appeals Court Decision was won by activists sprayed and Q-tip-swabbed with pepper liquid while protesting the logging of ancient redwood trees. The win gets the activists another jury trial (the first was split 4-4) and holds the top officers personally liable. Additionally, and this is more important than any study or verdict, people are hanging together and staying strong despite ever-increasing police brutality. With civil rights suits, demonstrations, sneaky antics and sass, and through the act of community itself, we are nurturing self-survival and a healthy distrust of cops.