CHEMICAL COPS Tear gas and pepper spray can be deadly. No one is protecting the public. by Terry. J. Allen IN THESE TIMES / April 3, 2000 / inthesetimes.com THE TONS OF TEAR GAS AND PEPPER SPRAY MUNITIONS Seattle police used on demonstrators and bystanders alike at the anti-WTO demonstrations last December contained chemicals implicated in lung problems, eye damage and even death. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the effects of these chemical weapons are not always confined to 15 or so minutes of intense pain and incapacitation. According to manufacturers' documents, military research and medical literature, each of these agents carries short- and long-term health risks; various formulations contain potential carcinogens. Tear gas and pepper spray cause health problems even when used within guidelines on healthy people. But in Seattle, as elsewhere, law enforcement violated manufacturers' warnings and inevitably sprayed vulnerable populations such as people with diabetes, asthma, allergies or heart problems, as well as pregnant women, children and the elderly. "It was like a war zone," says Russell Sparks, a student from Bellingham, Washington, who helped block a Seattle intersection on December 1. "The police rolled up in humvees, and I heard the clink, clink of cops jogging toward us. Within seconds the area was filled with gas and the air was pure white all around. I coughed and coughed. I felt like I was on fire, my friend and I both became hysterical. He fell down. A middle-aged man near me passed out, eyes open, shaking, dry heaving, twitching in the shoulders. A woman passed out face down. I tried to help but my eyes were burning and I was screaming for medical help." Three days later, Sparks still felt "serious flu symptoms, phlegmy, tired, fatigued, problems with eyes focusing, burning, slightly nauseous. I felt like it went into every pore." He wasn't alone. The persistence and severity of symptoms widely reported by demonstrators and hapless bystanders gave rise to speculation that some "mystery gas" had been used. Rumors of nerve gas spread like a toxic cloud across the Internet. The truth is that tear gas and pepper spray alone can cause temporary blindness, respiratory problems, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue and disorientation. Symptoms may linger for days in otherwise healthy individuals. Out of 187 North Carolina corrections officers exposed to pepper spray under controlled conditions for training purposes, according to Duke University Medical Center study, eight had symptoms persisting for more than a week, including eye problems, chest problems, headaches and disorientation. More seriously, reports by the Army and in prestigious medical journals have warned of respiratory arrest, pulmonarsenals and replaced it with CS. CS tear gas (o-chlorobenzylidene-malononitrile) LIKE CN, CS IS ACTUALLY A SOLID (not a gas) that is mixed with a pyrotechnic base and then exploded or sprayed using a pressurized aerosol. CS raises blood pressure, has caused permanent eye damage when used at close range or at high levels, and in rare instances has led to fatal heart failure and pulmonary edema. In vitro tests have shown it to be clastogenic and mutagenic. The United Nations documented dozens of deaths resulting after the Israeli army used CS in closed spaces against Palestinians. As with all these chemicals, it puts people with asthma, diabetes and heart conditions at increased risk. "Of particular concern," Hu wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association, "are allegations that exposure to tear gas has been associated with increases in miscarriages and stillbirths. ... Use in civil unrest demonstrates that exposure to the weapon is difficult to control and indiscriminate and the weapon is often not used correctly." In 1998, the British medical journal The Lancet called for CS spray to be withdrawn from police until more research has been carried out into health implications. Last September, a British government inquiry found that "very little" scientific information and "no comprehensive investigation of the effects of CS spray in humans was available, nor has there been any systematic follow-up of individuals who have been sprayed." OC (oleoresin capsicum, or pepper spray) MADE FROM THE CAYENNE PEPPER plant, OC's reputation as a safe but stunningly painful weapon makes it very popular with police, but may also contribute to abuses. As of February 1998, the International Association of Chiefs of Police had implicated it in 113 in-custody deaths in the United States. Police generally dismiss these figures, arguing that those who died had various complicating factors such as pre-existing health conditions, drug intoxication, or died of positional asphyxia after being left face down with hands cuffed behind their backs. Harry Salem, a scientist with the Army's Aberdeen Proving Ground who justified CS as "the safest and most potent riot control agent we know," is less sanguine about pepper spray. In unpublished research, he charges that "studies reported on the active ingredient, capsaicin, indicate that it is capable of producing mutagenic and carcinogenic effects, sensitization, cardiovascular and pulmonary toxicity, neurotoxicity, as well as possible fatalities. ... The data on capsaicin indicates that there are risks using this product on a large and varied population." Amnesty International characterizes use of pepper spray against non-threatening suspects as "tantamount to torture." Britain bans its use. T.J.A. Terry J. Allen can be reached at tallen@igc.org. Support for this article was provided by the Fund for Constitutional Government. Terry Allen 44 Old Brook Rd. Richmond, VT 05477 USA voice: 802-434-3767 fax: 802-434-3446 e-mail: tallen@igc.org Terry Allen 44 Old Brook Rd. Richmond, VT 05477 USA voice: 802-434-3767 fax: 802-434-3446 e-mail: tallen@igc.org