{"id":47744,"date":"2020-06-10T17:02:31","date_gmt":"2020-06-10T16:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=47744"},"modified":"2020-06-17T14:45:04","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T13:45:04","slug":"tear-gas-banned-warfare-america-should-not-use-citizens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/06\/10\/tear-gas-banned-warfare-america-should-not-use-citizens\/","title":{"rendered":"Kunal Sindhu: Tear gas is banned in warfare\u2014America should not use it on its own citizens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"standfirst\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The use of tear gas by American law enforcement agents against largely peaceful protesters is irresponsible and unacceptable, says Kunal Sindhu<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/02\/Kunal_Sindhu_pic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-44064\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2019\/02\/Kunal_Sindhu_pic.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"145\" height=\"138\" \/><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin, a now ex-police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on 25 May triggered a massive outpouring of anger in the United States. Within days, large protests erupted in<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/indepth\/interactive\/2020\/06\/mapping-cities-george-floyd-protests-erupted-200601081654119.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">hundreds of American cities<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> against systemic racism and police brutality. While some early protests<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/minneapolis-unrest-subsides-as-cities-rage-over-death-of-george-floyd-11591018710\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">devolved into looting and rioting<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the vast majority of protesters<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/health\/huge-peaceful-protests-mark-anti-racism-demonstrations-around-the-globe\/2020\/06\/06\/da2b9bd0-a817-11ea-bb20-ebf0921f3bbd_story.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">have been peaceful<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Unfortunately, many police officers have responded to these collective expressions of grief with<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/06\/02\/style\/police-protests-video.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">overwhelming and unjustifiable force<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In particular, law enforcement agents in cities across America<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2020\/06\/02\/us\/police-protests-use-of-force\/index.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">have employed tear gas<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to disperse crowds. In perhaps the most infamous example, police<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2020\/06\/05\/reverse-fact-check-trump-his-supporters-about-tear-gas-falls-apart\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">used it<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> on 1 June to clear peaceful protesters in Lafayette Square in advance of President Trump\u2019s<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2020\/06\/03\/868779265\/trump-defends-symbolism-of-photo-op-at-st-johns-church\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">photo opportunity<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> at St John\u2019s Episcopal Church across from the White House.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tear gas has a long and unfortunate history in the US. After it was first deployed on a massive scale as a chemical weapon during the first world war, tear gas grenades<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/business\/2020\/06\/tear-gas-police-wwi-george-floyd.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> began to be used in the US by<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> local police departments <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to quash domestic protests<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Over the next century, tear gas was used against American civilians on numerous occasions, including during the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/articles\/the-1932-bonus-army.htm\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Bonus Army march<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in 1932;<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1971\/05\/04\/archives\/7000-arrested-in-capital-war-protest-150-are-hurt-as-clashes.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the May Day protests<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> against the Vietnam War in 1971; and<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/av\/world-us-canada-15458163\/occupy-protests-us-police-fire-tear-gas-at-demonstrators\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the Occupy protests<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> against economic inequality in 2011.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The use of tear gas in today\u2019s protests is particularly regrettable. It is not harmless. According to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/emergency.cdc.gov\/agent\/riotcontrol\/factsheet.asp#:~:text=Riot%20control%20agents%20(sometimes%20referred,to%20be%20riot%20control%20agents.\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u201criot control agents (sometimes referred to as \u2018tear gas\u2019) are chemical compounds that temporarily make people unable to function by causing irritation to the eyes, mouth, throat, lungs, and skin.\u201d While tear gas generally produces transient effects,<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/militaryhealth.bmj.com\/content\/161\/2\/94.long\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a 2015 review<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> noted that \u201cmore severe ocular injuries have been reported, including hyphema, uveitis, necrotising keratitis, coagulative necrosis, symblepharon, secondary glaucoma, cataracts and traumatic optic neuropathy and loss of sight.\u201d As a result, the American Academy of Ophthalmology<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newswise.com\/articles\/nation-s-ophthalmologists-condemn-use-of-tear-gas-and-rubber-bullets\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">condemned its use<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by law enforcement on 4 June.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Additionally, the widespread use of tear gas by American police departments threatens to accelerate the spread of the novel coronavirus. The US accounts for<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.worldometers.info\/coronavirus\/#countries\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> more than a quarter<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of the confirmed cases and deaths<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from covid-19 worldwide. Even now, three months after the first lockdowns began, the number of daily confirmed cases in America has<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/health-shots\/2020\/03\/16\/816707182\/map-tracking-the-spread-of-the-coronavirus-in-the-u-s\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">only plateaued<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. With Trump having chosen to<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/trump-coronavirus-pandemic-jobs-law-and-order\/2020\/06\/05\/3248ce5e-a747-11ea-b619-3f9133bbb482_story.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">prematurely declare victory<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> over the virus, the prospect of a second wave of infections looms large.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tear gas can exacerbate the pandemic in<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2020\/06\/03\/us\/tear-gas-risks-protests-coronavirus.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">two ways<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. According <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/community\/miners.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">to the CDC<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes covid-19, is primarily spread \u201cbetween people who are in close contact\u201d via \u201crespiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes or talks.\u201d The protests have already brought tens of thousands of individuals into close proximity with one another. By inciting violent coughing fits, tear gas promotes viral transmission, potentially putting protesters more at risk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Secondly, the use of tear gas may also increase an individual\u2019s susceptibility to a subsequent respiratory illness.<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/academic.oup.com\/milmed\/article\/179\/7\/793\/4259353#101149356\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 2014 study of 6723 US army recruits<\/span><\/a> found that exposure to tear gas more than doubled their risk of developing an acute respiratory illness over the following three weeks. While it is not clear how these findings would apply to the novel coronavirus, they are worrying and worthy of consideration.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On 25 April 1997, the United States Senate approved the \u201cConvention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction,\u201d also known as the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), by a<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1997\/04\/25\/world\/how-the-senators-voted-on-treaty.html\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">vote<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of 74 to 26. The<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/treaties.un.org\/doc\/Treaties\/1997\/04\/19970429%2007-52%20PM\/CTC-XXVI_03_ocred.pdf\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">CWC<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, in addition to banning the development, acquisition, and use of chemical weapons, required participants \u201cnot to use riot control agents as a method of warfare.\u201d In other words, as one of the 193 state parties subject to the treaty, the US committed to abstain from using tear gas on the battlefield.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">While the CWC did include an exemption for domestic law enforcement purposes, its ban on the use of tear gas as a weapon of war should give us pause. If the US has pledged not to use tear gas against enemy combatants, why are American police departments still using it against their own citizens?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Tear gas is hazardous to human health, risks accelerating the spread of SARS-Cov-2, and has been banned from warfare. Its use by American law enforcement agents against largely peaceful protesters is irresponsible and unacceptable. It must end.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Kunal Sindhu<\/strong> is a radiation oncology resident in New York City. Twitter\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sindhu_kunal\">@sindhu_kunal<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Competing interests:<\/strong> I have read and understood BMJ policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: None.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The use of tear gas by American law enforcement agents against largely peaceful protesters is irresponsible and unacceptable, says Kunal Sindhu [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/06\/10\/tear-gas-banned-warfare-america-should-not-use-citizens\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1357],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-health-care"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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