Tear gas

I have recently had a lot of experience with tear gas as part of my national service. Let me tell you, military-issue tear gas is nothing like the cheap shit you can buy in a spray can to help you fight off potential rapists or robbers. What the military (and some police) use is quite different, mainly in that it is many hundreds of times stronger. However, it is still considered too weak a gas to use in actual combat; the military use tear gas mainly for practice and crowd control purposes.

Tear gas is quite a horrible substance. Not only is it long-lived (an exposed garment will need thorough cleaning before it can be used again), it's also very capable of remaining airborne for quite a bit of time after being released. One example: As part of an exercise, a 5 centimeter tear gas flare was set off in a forest clearing. 10 minutes later, a small group of soldiers arrived at a location roughly 100 metres away. Every time there was a gust of wind, some gas would blow over the spot where the soldiers were sitting. While the gas was thinned out enough to be invisible to the naked eye at this point, the dose was enough to cause quite a bit of discomfort for the soldiers. I should know, I was one of them.

The immediate effects of tear gas are the following:

• Extreme irritation of the eyes
  
• Itching sensation in mouth and nostrils
  
• Burning sensation in lungs, skin
  
• Breathing becomes harder
  

How much your skin burns actually depends on how sweaty you are. Tear gas attacks anything that's wet - The neck, forehead, throat and behind the ears are places that are likely to hurt a lot, since they're often exposed and will be sweaty, especially if you're wearing a mask or hood.

As for the good news, tear gas is not lethal unless you've got some sort of wierd allergy against it, or is exposed to it for a very long time. In the latter case, any parts of you affected by the gas (for example the lungs) will begin to take damage after a while. A rule of thumb for shorter exposures is that all of the effects are temporary - after just a short period of being in fresh air again, you should feel just fine. If not, contacting a doctor might be in order. Also, like I mentioned above, make sure that any clothes are properly and thoroughly cleaned before you use them again.

Tear gas (riot control agent)

What is it, who has it, and what do they use it for?
Tear gas finds use in three main areas: law enforcement, as a crowd control device; individual, as personal protection (in the form of Mace or pepper spray); and military, as a training tool (a non-lethal agent to test how fast military personnel can don their gas masks). Wherever its use, tear gas is usually found as one of two chemical compounds: chloroacetophenone (CN), or chlorobenzylidenemalononitrile (CS). Chloropicrin (PS, a fumigant), bromobenzylcyanide (CA), dibenzoxazepine (CR), and mixtures of any of the above are also found, but CN and CS are the most common.

How do I get exposed, and what happens if I do?
Exposure will most often come from skin, eye, or respiratory contact with the liquid or solid (i.e., powder) medium. In practice, this probably means one of two things: you either got Maced, or you were in the area when a canister of tear gas was set off. The severity of your symptoms will vary with the amount of tear gas, how you were exposed to it, and what your physical condition was prior to exposure. Being Maced in the face will probably have worse results than catching a whiff of gas from over the next hill.

Presented here are the common symptoms of being exposed to tear gas, though different reactions are possible. It’s a good idea to note that just because a victim doesn’t display all of the symptoms on this list doesn’t necessarily mean that their case is less severe than someone who does.

1. Respiratory signs and symptoms
• Cough
• Hoarseness
• Chest tightness
• Sensation of suffocation
• Dyspnea (difficulty breathing)
• Tachypnea (rapid breathing)
• Wheezing
• Hypoxemia (lack of oxygen in the bloodstream)
• Cyanosis (bluish or purplish skin discoloration)
• Noncardiogenic pulmonary edema
2. Skin and mucous membranes
• Redness, pain, and blistering of exposed skin Burn injury to exposed skin
• Eye: lacrimation (crying), ocular irritation and redness, blurred vision, corneal burns
• Oropharynx: oral burns and irritation, sore throat, hoarseness, dysphagia (trouble swallowing), salivation
• Nose: rhinorrhea (runny nose), burning, irritation, edema

Extended exposure, especially in an enclosed area, has decidedly worse effects, including blindness, glaucoma, death due to severe chemical burns in the throat and lungs, and respiratory failure (which can lead to death); naturally, tear gas is not the only cause of these symptoms.

Aghh! It burns! Get it off! Getitoffgetitoff! (What to do if you are exposed)
First and foremost, try to get out of the area where the riot control agents were released and into fresh air. This is very effective in limiting exposure to tear gas. If the tear gas was released outside, get away from the area, avoiding any heavier-than-air clouds that may be hanging around. If you’re indoors at the time of exposure, get outside.

If you think you’ve been exposed, take off any clothing that could possibly have tear gas on it. This may mean that you strip to your skivvies and do the naked dance. If you have to pull an article of clothing over your head to get it off, you should cut it off instead (otherwise what’s on the shirt or sweater may transfer to your face). If you’re helping someone else, avoid touching areas contaminated with tear gas. All of this should be done as quickly as possible.

Still moving as fast as possible, wash any riot control agent off of yourself with lots of soap and water. If you think you may have gotten tear gas in your eyes (if your vision is blurred or if your eyes are burning), rinse with water for about ten to fifteen minutes. If you’re wearing contacts, get rid of them and do not put them back in, even if they’re not the disposable kind. If you’re wearing glasses or jewelry that can be cleaned with soap and water, you can put those back on after you’ve cleaned them.

After washing yourself, stick all your contaminated clothing, including contacts if you wear them, into a plastic bag or similar storage device. Don’t touch the clothes with your bare skin, since you’ve already washed up and don’t want to go through that again. Then, seal the bag up. When health department or emergency personnel arrive, tell them what you did with the clothes, and they’ll deal with them from there. You shouldn’t dispose of them yourself.

Then, call 911 or whatever number you happen to call when bad things happen. You just got exposed to tear gas, and need to seek medical attention. The doctors will make sure that you’re all right. Treatment that you can expect includes getting victims more oxygen, stopping and treating any chemical burns that may have been caused, and possibly the use of asthma medications to help breathing.

Sources:
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/riotcontrol/factsheet.asp
http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/riotcontrol/agentpoisoning.asp
http://www.dictionary.com