Wednesday, December 1, 1999

POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF

Police used pepper spray and tear gas to disperse crowds protesting the World Trade Organization's opening sessions yesterday, sending more than a dozen to hospitals and clinics where they were treated and released.

Pepper gas, technically known as O.C. gas, was used first by police because it is considered a safer and more manageable method for crowd control than traditional tear gas.

"It doesn't hang around in the air as long and is much less toxic," said Dr. Michael Copass, director of emergency services at Harborview Medical Center, where three of those sprayed went to get their eyes washed out.

Virginia Mason Medical Center treated five people for gas exposure and one for an injury from a rubber pellet. Swedish Medical Center treated three for gas and one for injuries sustained in a fist fight.

Oleoresin Capsicum, or O.C., is the natural chemical that gives cayenne pepper and some other plants their spicy kick. When concentrated and delivered as an aerosol, pepper spray inflames the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose and throat -- temporarily blinding a person and making breathing difficult.

Copass said tear gas can also do that, but it can also make people nauseated and it hangs around in the air longer after it is discharged.

Most tear gas used today is an aerosolized chemical, ortho chloro benzylidene-malonitrile, known as "CS." This form of tear gas causes direct irritation of sensitive tissues rather than the inflammatory response caused by OC gas.

"It's more of an irritant and it can be deployed in a broadcast manner covering more people," said David Ellithorpe, a Seattle Police Department officer spokesman for the SPD on WTO events.

Ellithorpe explained that the police also use guns that fire OC gas in paintballlike containers that explode upon impact. He said this is done when they need to subdue or disperse a single individual rather than a crowd.

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