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What Tear Gas and Rubber Bullets Do to the Human Body
As protesters in Los Angeles clashed with law enforcement this weekend over the Trump administration’s immigration raids, police employed military-style tactics, including using tear gas, flash grenades, and pepper-spray projectiles on demonstrators. In one instance, Lauren Tomasi, a reporter with Australia’s 9News, was shot with a rubber bullet fired by law enforcement during a live broadcast.
Though not explicitly designed to kill, these so-called “less-lethal” weapons can cause serious health effects—and, in some cases, lasting harm. The use of these weapons can result in respiratory problems, head injuries, and even death. In the United States, police force of all types results in 75,000 nonfatal injuries requiring hospital treatment and 600 to 1,100 deaths every year, according to the Law Enforcement Epidemiology Project at the University of Illinois Chicago.
The types of health effects and injuries can vary depending on the weapon being used. Tear gas and pepper spray, types of chemical irritants, can cause tearing, pain, and burning of the eyes, skin irritation, sore throat, sneezing, coughing, and vomiting. Tear gas usually refers to 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (agent CS) or chloroacetophenone (agent CN), which work by activating pain receptors in the eyes, nose, mouth, and lungs. Pepper spray is highly concentrated pepper oil, oleoresin capsicum (agent OC), which produces a powerful burning sensation.
“The short-term effects are immediate and severe,” says Diane Calello, executive and medical director of the New Jersey Poison Center and a professor at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. In some cases, people can experience respiratory distress, difficulty breathing, and asthma-like symptoms.
Though not explicitly designed to kill, these so-called “less-lethal” weapons can cause serious health effects—and, in some cases, lasting harm. The use of these weapons can result in respiratory problems, head injuries, and even death. In the United States, police force of all types results in 75,000 nonfatal injuries requiring hospital treatment and 600 to 1,100 deaths every year, according to the Law Enforcement Epidemiology Project at the University of Illinois Chicago.
The types of health effects and injuries can vary depending on the weapon being used. Tear gas and pepper spray, types of chemical irritants, can cause tearing, pain, and burning of the eyes, skin irritation, sore throat, sneezing, coughing, and vomiting. Tear gas usually refers to 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (agent CS) or chloroacetophenone (agent CN), which work by activating pain receptors in the eyes, nose, mouth, and lungs. Pepper spray is highly concentrated pepper oil, oleoresin capsicum (agent OC), which produces a powerful burning sensation.
“The short-term effects are immediate and severe,” says Diane Calello, executive and medical director of the New Jersey Poison Center and a professor at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. In some cases, people can experience respiratory distress, difficulty breathing, and asthma-like symptoms.
https://www.wired.com/story/what-tear-gas-does-to-the-human-body/
6 replies
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Protest in Peace We Got This……and they got tear-gassed for that evil message. 
