Did You Know? Tear Gas Is Used Domestically. But It's Prohibited for Use in War.

Tear gas is largely unregulated. Its effects on human health are not fully known.

Reflect on that for a moment. Tear gas – hardly a benign substance – may be used by U.S. law enforcement agencies against U.S. citizens. Yet treaties ban its use in battle.

A staff memorandum prepared in October, 2021 for a subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives states, in part:

“Tear gas is widely used by U.S. law enforcement agencies as a ‘riot control agent.’ It was used in at least 100 U.S. cities in the first six months of 2020 alone. (Citation omitted.) Such widespread domestic use stands in stark contrast to the lack of U.S. use of tear gas against our enemies in war—tear gas is banned from use in war as a chemical weapon by international treaty. (1, 2) (Emphasis added.)

The Congressional staff memo goes on to discuss (a) the failure of the federal government to regulate tear gas safety, (b) the dearth of research on dangers posed by tear gas, and (c) the liberties that manufacturers of tear gas substances have taken in the absence of regulation. (1)

The International Committee of the Red Cross adds:

“In armed conflict there is an absolute prohibition on the use of any toxic chemical as a weapon under the 1925 Geneva Protocol, the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, and customary international humanitarian law. This includes a prohibition of the use of riot control agents – i.e., ‘tear gas’ – as a method of warfare.” (3)

It is axiomatic that Congress must protect citizens. I believe that research on and and regulation of six types of crowd control weapons – specifically, “kinetic impact projectiles (KIPs), chemical irritants, water cannons, disorientation devices, acoustic weapons, and directed energy devices” (4) – is imperative.

Sources:

(1) https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/COR%20ECP_CRCL%20Tear%20gas%20memo.pdf

(2) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/06/fact-check-its-true-tear-gas-chemical-weapon-banned-war/3156448001/

(3) https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/interview/2013/02-06-toxic-chemical-weapons-law.htm

(4) https://phr.org/our-work/resources/lethal-in-disguise/

Background:

https://emergency.cdc.gov/agent/riotcontrol/factsheet.asp

https://2009-2017.state.gov/t/isn/4784.htm

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#disorientation devices

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