Tear Gas Is A Banned Chemical Weapon, But US Lobbying Made It Okay For Domestic Use... And, Boy, Do We Use It
from the because-we-can dept
If you've been watching what's going on in Ferguson, Missouri, lately, you're quite well aware that the police have been basically spraying tear gas almost everywhere they can. Suddenly, articles are springing up all over the internet about the use of tear gas -- which, it turns out is technically banned for use in warfare as a chemical weapon. The history of how that came about, however, is a bit complicated, as this State Department notice on tear gas discusses. Basically, there was a dispute over whether or not tear gas violated the Geneva Conventions. Here's a snippet:In 1966 the Communist countries strongly criticized the United States for using tear gas and chemical herbicides in Vietnam. In the General Assembly, Hungary charged that the use in war of these agents was prohibited by the Geneva Protocol and other provisions of international law. The United States denied that the protocol applied to nontoxic gases or chemical herbicides. Joined by Canada, Italy, and the United Kingdom, the United States introduced amendments to a Hungarian resolution that would have made the use of any chemical and bacteriological weapons an international crime. In its final form the resolution called for "strict observance by all states of the principles and objectives" of the protocol, condemned "all actions contrary to those objectives," and invited all states to accede to the protocol. During the debate the U.S. Representa-tive stated that it would be up to each country to decide whether or how to adhere to the protocol, "in the light of constitutional and other consider-ations."Years later, there was a push to officially renounce the use of chemical weapons in war, which became the chemical weapons treaty... but it included exceptions for domestic use. Those exceptions were mainly pushed by the US:
Interpretation of the protocol remained a thorny problem. In his foreword to a U.N. report on chemical and biological weapons (July 1, 1969), Secretary General Thant recommended a renewed appeal for accession to the protocol and a "clear affirmation" that it covered the use in war of all chemical and biological weapons, including tear gas and other harassing agents. Discussion in the Conference of the Committee on Disarmament (CCD) showed that most members agreed with the Thant recommendations. Swedish Ambassador Myrdal, a strong advocate of the broad interpretation, stressed the danger of escalation if nonlethal chemical agents were permitted. She also pointed out that the military use of tear gases should be distinguished from their use for riot control and that there was a similar difference between using herbicides in war and employing them for peaceful purposes. On the other hand, U.K. Disarmament Minister Mulley held that only the parties to the protocol were entitled to say what it meant.
The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention doesn't apply to domestic law enforcement. (The United States was a major proponent of the exemption, fearing that the convention might be interpreted to prohibit lethal injection.)The Washington Post has a detailed look at how it's being used in Ferguson, and how the police there seem to think it's perfectly safe:
Ferguson police chief Tom Jackson has defended the use of tear gas. “There are complaints about the response from some people,” he said, “but to me, nobody got hurt seriously, and I’m happy about that.”But another report highlights that the negative health effects of tear gas are severely underestimated by law enforcement groups who use it. In an interview with Vox.com, Sven-Eric Jordt, a scientist who studies tear gas, warns that law enforcement has become too complacent with this narrative that tear gas is a harmless way of dispersing crowds:
I frankly think that we don't know much about the long-term effects, especially in civilian exposure with kids or elderly or people in the street who might have some kind of lung disease already. There's very few follow-up studies. These are very active chemicals that can cause quite significant injury, so I'm concerned about the increased use of these agents.Even as it's been banned for use in war. Something seems... very, very wrong with this situation.
[....]
I'm very concerned that, as use has increased, tear gas has been normalized. The attitude now is like, this is safe and we can use it as much as we want.
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Filed Under: chemical weapons, crowd control, geneva conventions, riot control, tear gas
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taco bell gas burrito
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Re: taco bell gas burrito
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/08/07/christian-broadcaster-ebola-could-cleanse-us-of-atheists- gay-people-and-sluts/
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I'm not sure if they even know what Orthodox Christianity is, or any of the Eastern/Ancient Rite churches (such as a Maronite and Coptic churches).
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Seems to be the same with our prison practices
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Re: Seems to be the same with our prison practices
When it comes to drugs it is ultimately a question of policy. "Legalize and tax it to hell" would seem more appealing than the current "encouragement to crime", but it is an international issue. If some countries change a lot might follow. Netherlands has severely restricted hash trade since the outside pressure has been enormous.
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Re: Re: Seems to be the same with our prison practices
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I'm going to disagree with the assessment the article's making, in that tear gas should be banned.
The fact this "study" keeps referring to CS as a gas is laughable. It's an aerosol, designed to spread quickly and effectively.
The Geneva Convention has about as much as an influence in war as blue laws have on state residents.
Israel recently used it, yet I don't see anyone complaining about the use there. Oh, I see, because they're fighting terrorists that it makes it okay?
Please.
I own two canisters of the stuff myself, and you can bet if there's a need for a quick way to subdue an intruder, they'll quickly realize why I have it.
Most idiots think having a gun protects them. I'll take my aerosol over a gun any day of the week, so think about the benefits in this term.
I'd trust my neighbor with CS more than I would with a 9mm.
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Re:
I went through the "gas" chamber in basic training.. We had to go in "mopp" 4 and break/reseal our mask.. the brave ones took their masks off, took a few deep breaths and started blubbering like idiots pawing at their face for their troubles. If it wasn't for the fact that my face was on fire and i couldn't see through all the fluids pouring out of it, I would have been laughing my ass off...
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It has also been used for many years now without clear indication of dangers. Sure that is absolutely no guarantee of its harmlessness, but it is a positive indication.
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Re:
You would also rather have a can of tear gas going off in your house rather then properly knowing how to use a gun.
Something seems wrong with this, but I just can't put my finger on it.
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I will take your psycho and raise you a maniac.
You might have problems getting out the smell.
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Re: Re:
The canister also requires a two-step process to active: Pull the pin while holding down the grip. Once the grip is released, the canister fires.
Simple as that. :)
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It's a slow news day for someone.
If you want to track the potential dangers of tear gas, try studying the health of Marines. They are all subjected to it in a confined space and Drill Instructors repeatedly so.
It certainly sucks to be on the receiving end of it, but it's hardly a cause for hysterics.
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Re: It's a slow news day for someone.
As for Israel I'd say they are repeating what has been done to them. In a similar scale but with better marketing.
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Re: It's a slow news day for someone.
Your argument that tear gas is safe is that we study the effects of it on a single group of young adults known for their physical fitness?
Imagine this argument a few thousand years ago: "Don't worry about getting stabbed with a sword, because all Spartan warriors can block a sword thrust with their shield."
Go read what the scientist said: "especially in civilian exposure with kids or elderly or people in the street who might have some kind of lung disease already".
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Re: Re: It's a slow news day for someone.
This morning (Tuesday, August 19th 2014), way after the protesters were well dispersed, the bearcats just drove around arbitrarily lobbing gas shells into the neighborhoods...until they ran out, I guess.
This is how CS Gas is used by the police.
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Re: Re: It's a slow news day for someone.
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Remember when...
Remember all those times when they got pepper sprayed and beaten up by riot police?
Me neither.
Remember all those times when Westboro Baptist Church protesters demonstrating at veterans' funerals got pepper sprayed and beaten up by riot police?
Me neither.
If you can't stop the police from being militarized, responding to protesters with tear gas and assault rifles, then let's insist that they be consistent in using their toys against protesters across the political spectrum. Consistent regardless of how much political power the protesters have. And consistent with the amount of harm the protesters are doing.
I suspect they'd be demilitarized rather quickly.
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Re: Remember when...
I am sure it won't take you long to find some excuse for them though.
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Re: Remember when...
Steal a candy bar, do time. Steal millions, get a free pass.
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Re: Re: Remember when...
Secondly, whether you (or I for that matter) like it or not, politics and partisanship are the way our government works. In other words--perfectly legal.
Last I saw, looting, rioting and shooting guns at the police were not. It is obvious just how much contempt for the law that you have since you are the one who brought up WBC. I forgot how people like you would conveniently eliminate a persons constitutional right to stop something they didn't like. To enforce a law that actually exists--fugetaboutit
Try again?
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I would even agree with you that the majority of people involved are not the problem however there are more than enough of them there for the sole purpose of escalating the violence to make it hard on everyone.
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The police are notoriously good at finding something to charge someone with, when legally filming an incident, walking down the street, etc. When all else fails there's always catch-all charges like "public mischief."
When Ted Cruz shut down the government, costing tens of billions of dollars, for reasons that look so silly that even Ted Cruz immediately started denying responsibility, surely it's at least as easy to find some law violated.
It should be easier than finding a reason to fire six rounds into someone - from a safe distance - for walking on the street. Easier than finding a reason to use lethal force against someone suspected of selling untaxed cigarettes.
Understand, I'm not saying that police should go out of their way to go full-Rambo on protesters. I'm just saying that they should be consistent regardless of social status. A high court / low court situation is bad enough without the developing high police / low police system developing.
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Idiot.
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Anonymous Coward.
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Retort: What happened to "of the people, by the people, and FOR the people?" Has that changed to "whether the people like it or not?" And the last bit. You're killing me here.
"government works." When? And your turn to prove it, Monsieur Smartypants.
And This Statement:"In other words--perfectly legal."
Retort:Perfectly legal? I doubt it. Perfectly honest? Definitely not. Perfectly corrupt? Almost absolutely. ( I say alomst because I imagine not everyone in Congress is total greaseball. Just 99%.
Have you never been able to put 2 + 2 together? We might not have proof of backroom deals because they were signed in BACK ROOMS.
Keep drinking the Koolaid.
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How it's supposed to work.
And to be fair, I get the thing in this case from a roommate who was in the USMC on riot duty not long after the National Guard fucked up at Kent State.
If you're going to build a line and wear riot armor, that makes you immune to rocks and even molotovs. And the USMC policy was to pretty much deflect and not respond and let the crowd do its crowd thing.
As for people with guns, that's what the multiple observers and the sniper is for, like that guy with the fancy tripod mount that was pointing his gun menacingly at the peaceful protestors. If sniper ain't gonna snipe, what's he there for? Intimidation? A guy reveals a handgun, the spotters ID him, the sniper takes him out. The police show restraint. That is how it's done, and if Ferguson did that they would have looked fucking professional, not like a bunch of drunk good-ol'-boys playing around with military hardware.
So even in when when riot patrols were dealing with anti-war cretins and communist pastards as flower-fucking hippies, they were capable of showing some restraint.
Ferguson police, in contrast, are looking for any little excuse to go full commando on them-there darkies. Because an unarmed black person is like poindextrose to a white St. Louis copper.
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Re: How it's supposed to work.
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Breakdown:
1: Keep everyone from getting work done.
2: Collect huge sums of money from the people you are doing it for.
3: Say you were taking a stand on "principles" (any principle will do. Kids, please don't try to stand your principals.)
4: ??? (backroom deals.. hence the question marks)
5: Profit!
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Re: Re: Remember when...
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I'd say it's better to use this in warfare than other worse chemicals but against citizens in a protest? Sadly I've seen it here as well.
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NO, NOT VINEGAR!
You want an alkaline, not an acid.
Also a Maalox / Water solution in a aerolizing spray bottle.
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Re: NO, NOT VINEGAR!
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Re: NO, NOT VINEGAR!
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[1] and why Lister can destroy a vindaloo monster with a giant can of lager in Red Dwarf.
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Re:
http://i.imgur.com/5cVgH.jpg
Basically an antacid mixture is VERY usefull!
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and I thought my idea was bad
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Ferguson made me want to know...
...which is how I learned about Bloody Thursday, 1969
So apparently, we're old hat at this thing about trapping and gassing protestors or gassing entire neighborhoods.
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Makes sense to me, considering that Ferguson looks like a 3rd world country in the middle of a war.
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truth is
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Hardly surprising
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Tear gas isn't nice, no way. But it's a lot less likely to result in actual deaths than a crowd charging a police line directly, which is a nervous trigger finger away from a literal massacre.
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I will tell you that I am increasingly afraid about our rights and our Constitution overall. It just doesn't seem to be the same bulwark for our freedoms it once was. There seems to be an increasing ability of Government, at all levels, to intrude on our lives, without any consequence.
I'm appalled for those that courageously gave their lives for tne freedoms we enjoy. The didn't give their lives for this...
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Bullshit
Riiight...militarized police is bad, calling it "the war on X" is bad, but the laws of warfare should apply to police actions? Apart from setting a rather strange tone, here are some other things which would be banned:
- Expanding ammunition (allegedly hunters also use that, where is the UN?!)
- Plainclothes officers
- Punishing people for killing cops. Since killing is part of war, you can't hold POWs responsible for doing their share, they merely are detained until the hostilities seize
- ...well, unless they are irregulars. Resisting police without wearing a proper uniform is clearly a war crime
On the other hand, a few things would be allowed...like "acceptable" civilian losses, or blowing up a suspects car without giving him the chance to be arrested. Actually, not even suspects. As long as you are part of the opposing force, that is all the reason needed to shoot you or take you POW -- sounds like just the kind of behavior I'd want from police...
Policing is not warfare, this distinction cuts both ways.
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Re: Bullshit
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Re: Bullshit
You must be pleased, then, because that's the kind of behavior we've been seeing.
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