Tear gas

In addition, it can cause severe eye and respiratory pain, skin irritation, bleeding, and blindness.

While lachrymatory agents are commonly deployed for riot control by law enforcement and military personnel, its use in warfare is prohibited by various international treaties.

With CS gas, symptoms of irritation typically appear after 20 to 60 seconds of exposure[3] and commonly resolve within 30 minutes of leaving (or being removed from) the area.

[1][4][5][2] This includes risks from being hit by tear gas cartridges that may cause severe bruising, loss of eyesight, or skull fracture, resulting in immediate death.

[3][11] When people are hit at close range or are severely exposed, eye injuries involving scarring of the cornea can lead to a permanent loss in visual acuity.

[13] In the 2019–20 Chilean protests various people have had complete and permanent loss of vision in one or both eyes as result of the impact of tear gas grenades.

[3] Typical manufacturer warnings on tear gas cartridges state "Danger: Do not fire directly at person(s).

In riot control situations, protesters sometimes use equipment (aside from simple rags or clothing over the mouth) such as swimming goggles and adapted water bottles, as well as covering as much skin as possible.

[29][30][31] Activists in United States, the Czech Republic, Venezuela and Turkey have reported using antacid solutions such as Maalox diluted with water to repel effects of tear gas attacks,[32][33][34] with Venezuelan chemist Mónica Kräuter recommending the usage of diluted antacids as well as baking soda.

These individuals generally wore protective clothing, including heat-proof gloves, or covered their arms and legs with cling film to prevent the painful skin irritation.

Canisters were sometimes picked up and lobbed back at police or extinguished straight away with water, or neutralized using objects such as traffic cones.

[38] Similarly, Chilean protesters of Primera Línea had specialized individuals collecting and extinguishing the tear gas grenades.

Others acted as tear gas medics, and another group, the "shield-bearers," protected the protesters from the direct physical impact of the grenades.

Eyes are decontaminated by copious flushing with sterile water or saline or (with OC) open-eye exposure to wind from a fan.

Clothes, shoes and accessories that come into contact with vapors must be washed well since all untreated particles can remain active for up to a week.

[40] Most effects resulting from riot-control agents are transient and do not require treatment beyond decontamination, and most patients do not need observation beyond 4 hours.

[51] Vegetable oil and vinegar have been reported as helping relieve burning caused by pepper spray,[42] Kräuter suggests the usage of baking soda or toothpaste, stating that they trap the particles emanating from the gas near the airways that are more feasible to inhale.