Tear gas – Riot control agents

 

Tear gas is a famous word that will be heard during picketing. I remember when I was attending pickets at the university I and my friends were expecting the police will use tear gas to disperse the people and we were willing to get that experience. I heard that it is unbearable when your eyes are exposed to tear gas.

These days there are so many unfortunate events between police and the ordinary people in Sri Lanka due to the financial crisis of the government, oil and electricity problems, and the rising cost of living. And several times police have used tear gas to disperse people.


 What is tear gas?

Tear gas is said to be not a gas. It is a pressurized powder that may form a mist-like environment when it is exposed to air. It is a collection of chemicals. It says that synthetic organic halogens are used for making tear gas. The most commonly used chemical is CS gas, 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile. Other chemicals are included pepper spray (OC gas), PAVA spray (nonivamide), CR gas, CN gas (phenacyl chloride), bromoacetone, xylyl bromide, and Mace (a branded mixture).





 Effect of tear gas



When you are exposed to tear gas it may affect the respiratory system, eyes, and skin. It may irritate mucous membranes in the nose, eyes, and lungs and cause crying sneezing coughing, pain in the eyes, burning, itching, and blurry vision of eyes.

 Irritation may appear within 20-60 seconds and resolve within half an hour.

Chemicals in tear gas may bind to pain receptors called TRPA1 and TRPV1. The severity of symptoms may depend on the time you were exposed to tear gas, how much tear gas was used, and the open or enclosed space.


What are the treatments?

For the effects of tear gas, there is no specific medicine. All you have to do is get away from the area which is containing tear gas and get rid of the powder as soon as you can by washing away.

All the contaminated clothes should be removed. To remove particles from the skin, soap can be used.

Rubbing eyes should be avoided because the particles can damage your eye. Some say that using water to wash out eyes may increase the pain, but water or saline water is suggested to remove particles from the eyes. Some are suggesting that a hypertonic amphoteric salt solution, Diphoterine is suitable to wash your eyes.


Is tear gas dangerous?

Tear gas may indeed cause irritations for a couple of hours, but it also can cause damage to the eyes for months or years after. Also, it may cause chronic respiratory difficulties. In the eyes, tear gas may cause corneal abrasion and nerve damage as well as glaucoma.

People who are exposed to tear gas may suffer from chest tightness, chronic bronchitis, and difficulty in breathing for about three months. And also can cause respiratory arrest burns in the respiratory tract and lead the way to death.  


Learn more,

https://www.healthline.com/health/tear-gas-effects#treatment

https://massivesci.com/notes/tear-gas-health-effects-minneapolis-brooklyn-center/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_gas#:~:text=Tear%20gas%2C%20also%20known%20as,the%20eye%20to%20produce%20tears.


Written by : Rashmi Premathilake


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Story of litmus papers

Image
  Story of litmus papers  In chemistry, we have met so many situations to consider the acidity or the basicity of solution, or any mixture. Basically in our school classes, we used litmus papers to consider the acidity or basicity of an aqueous solvent.   In the short form, I was used to remembering the color change of the litmus paper as in acids blue color change into red and in basic medium red color change into a blue. But I was really curious about the  story  of this litmus paper, showing a color change due to this acidity and basicity. In other words, acidity and basicity are represented as pH values. So litmus paper can represent color change according to different pH values. What is the pH scale? pH is a measure of acidity or basicity, denoting the potential of hydrogen. Acidic solutions have lower PH values and basics have higher PH values. “The pH scale is  logarithmic  and inversely indicates the  concentration  of  hydro...
Read more
Image
  The story of the matchbox In day-to-day life, we are using matches for several kinds of things. Especially housewives to light the stoves. In a house, at least one match will be lighted up in a day. But a lot of us don’t know the story behind the matches or the matchbox. So I decided to find about what is the actual mechanism and history behind this matchbox. History of match The invention of fire was a turning point for humankind. So in history, people try to get provided fire in a convenient method in several phases. In 1828, an Englishman, Samuel Jones patented one of the first kinds of matches. It consists of a glass bead with sulfuric acid and a sugar coat with an oxidizing agent. To ignite the match the bead should be broken using a pair of pliers. Then the acid will release and ignition will happen due to an exothermal reaction in the surrounding combustible materials. Due to the expenses, these kinds of chemical matches were unable to make. So later a friction m...
Read more