Reevaluating tear gas toxicity and safety

Short-term health effects of tear agents chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile and oleoresin capsicum during the civil riots of Santiago de Chile in 2019-2020

Chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS) and Oleoresin Capsicum (OC) were tear gasses used as anti-riot control agents during social unrest riots in Chile (October 2019-March 2020). This study posed as a research question what were the short-term health effects of CS and OC and their patterns of temporal occurrence in a sample of inhabitants and health care volunteer brigades of the Plaza Italia (city of Santiago, Chile) during the riots. A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in 112 exposed people (inhabitants and health care volunteers) affected by CS and OC. 62 harmful effects were studied classified in three time periods of occurrence: immediate effects (between exposure and one hour), secondary effects (from one hour after exposure and up to 24 h), and subsequent effects (days after exposure). The use of CS and OC in Santiago riots 2019-2020 produced harmful effects on both groups: inhabitants and brigade health care volunteers. The frequency of effects was, from most to least common: 62.5% eye pain or burning, 56.2% throat irritation, 54.4% respiratory distress, 52.6% skin pain or burning, 51.7% impaired vision, 37.5% skin erythema, 31.2% headache, 31.2% irregular breathing, 25.8% conjunctival injection, 29.4% nausea, 27.6% disorientation, 26.7 high blood pressure, 25.8% lip pain, 24.1% rhinitis, 24.1% skin sensitivity, 22.3% diarrhea, 20.5% contact dermatitis, 18.7% conjunctivitis, 16.9% skin vesicles, 16% tachycardia, 14.4 cough with phlegm and 9.8% corneal abrasion. 22 effects were more frequent (p < 0.05) in health care volunteers than among residents. High blood pressure was more frequent (p < 0.05) among residents. Immediate most frequent effects were pain or burning, impaired vision, respiratory difficulty, irregular breathing, skin pain and burning, skin erythema, nausea, tachycardia, and hypertension. Secondary effects were diarrhea, skin vesicles, and eye pain or burning. Subsequent most frequent effects among healthcare personnel were conjunctivitis, skin pain, burning, rhinitis, and diarrhea. Among residents, the most common effects were skin pain, burning, and impaired vision.

Rapid screening of riot control agents using DART-TD-HRMS

PURPOSE

Riot Control Agents (RCAs) are chemicals used in law enforcement for non-lethal riot control and use in conflicts between states that violates the Chemical Weapons Convention. OPCW's Scientific Advisory Board has identified sixteen potential RCAs including capsaicinoids, CS, and CR. RCAs may be misused for criminal purposes, so methods for detecting such misuse are needed. This study therefore evaluates the feasibility of a rapid, high throughput screening method of RCAs on surfaces (particularly clothing surfaces) by Direct Analysis in Real Time with a thermal desorption unit coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry (DART-TD-HRMS).

METHODS

A broadly applicable method for detecting potential RCAs was developed and tested on cotton fabric samples sprayed with self-defence sprays from an in-house reference stock. The feasibility of detecting RCAs by direct analysis of surface wipe samples placed in the DART source was also investigated.

RESULTS

The method detected all sixteen RCAs and contaminated clothing were successfully screened for active agents in a reference collection of self-defence sprays. A pilot study also showed that RCAs can be detected by holding a sample directly in front of the DART source.

CONCLUSION

DART-TD-HRMS enables rapid and simple screening of RCAs on fabric samples enabling a high sample throughput.

Toxic chemical exposures among civilians in armed conflicts: the need for research equity, justice, and accountability

OBJECTIVE

Armed conflicts result in the release of toxic chemicals into the surrounding environment and civilians are commonly exposed to these toxicants. This paper reviews the evidence on civilian exposure to toxic chemicals, including but not limited to inhaled toxic substances, in post-World War II armed conflicts, and proposes a framework for the implementation of long-term surveillance programs for these populations.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Four databases of peer-reviewed health articles were searched for all English-language articles with a primary focus on toxic chemical exposures among civilians in armed conflicts since World War II. The review was supplemented substantially by the gray literature.

RESULTS

In the 66 articles that met the inclusion criteria, the authors categorized the chemical toxicants to which civilians have been exposed in modern armed conflicts as ubiquitous (e.g. smoke, dust, and munitions components present in all conflicts) or particular agents (e.g. specific chemical agents used in a few conflicts). While most studies focused on particular agents, the vast majority of civilians are in fact exposed to ubiquitous agents both in the acute conflict phase and through persistent environmental exposures after the cessation of hostilities.

DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION

There is a dearth of research concerning civilian exposures to toxic chemicals during armed conflicts. In line with principles of equity, justice, and accountability, robust research and surveillance programs are urgently needed to document exposures and provide ongoing assessments and any necessary treatment for these long-ignored populations, most of whom live in the Global South.

Atmospheric negations: Weaponising breathing, attuning irreducible bodies

This paper elaborates various ways in which atmospheric negations operate by weaponising bodily vulnerability to air. It shows, firstly, how bodies remain exposed to colonial proximities of respiratory, olfactory, and sonic violence with ways that are constituted through negating site- and body-spheres. It highlights these spheric materialities by discussing the use of tear gas and skunk water, bombing of chemical warehouses, and the sonic settler aggression in Palestine, further arguing that we need to pay more attention to the irreducibility of the body to such violent orchestrations of atmospheric. Here the irreducibility of the body and the incapacity of the spheric become key matters related to what is called, secondly, the reciprocal sphereological vulnerability between the corporeal and the spheric. By paying particular attention to difference between breathing and attunement, the paper shows how a negative limit condition resides at the heart of what constitutes sphere-dwelling. Here an ontological shift in thinking atmospheric is suggested, one that starts, not from current framings aligned around the notions of vitality, affirmation, and relationality, but from the weaponisation of the fundamental incapacity of the body to overcome its own vulnerability to the air it breathes.