Chronic Health Problems of Tear Gas

Cs Tear Gas=Ortho-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile Methylene Choride (solvent) is 50% of Tear Gas
Methyl isobutyl Ketone (propellant)

* Causes Chromosome Aneuploidy in Germline and Somatic cells.
* 80 countries signed the Geneva Protocols in 1969 oulawing it’s use in warfare.
* Among signitors were Iraq, Iran, Libya, Afghanistan, North Korea, Syria, US
* 1995 report by the army published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine found that the manufacturers material data sheets are not accurate.

CS Tear Gas (Ortho-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile)
* Acute effects include cardiac arrhythmias and high blood pressure.
* 1983 Fundamental Applied Toxocology= Fatal in humans at much lower concentrations than the mice in which it’s usually tested.
* Washington Toxics Coalition Report 2000=Respiratory effects are pulmonary edema and “Reactive Airways Dysfunction Disorder”
* Dr. Kirk Murphy of Physicians for Social Responsibility=35% of women exposed to Tear Gas experience spontaneous menstruation within hours; 1 documented case of spontaneous abortion.
* Zarc International (manufacturer) malononitrile degrades into cyanide. Lethal dose for 150 pound person= 1 gram or less.
* 1968 Am. Journal of Opthalmology=reviewed files from Armed Forces Institute of Pathology which removed 14 eyes from 13 soldiers and found intense necrotizing kerititis, suppurative iridocyclitis. Remaining 9 eyes were removed in the following 15 years and found neuroparalytic keratopathy.

Methylene Chloride
* Solvent in pain thinners and varnish removers
* Makes up as much as 50% of CS Tear Gas
* EPA classifies it as a “probably human carcinogen”
* lung tumors, chromosomal abnormalities and tumors in mammary tissues, infertility in men due to decreased sperm motility, density and mutations.
* 1988 Journal of Forensic Science International=cardiac arrest, pulmonary edema, and death especially in persons with existing repiratory conditions.
* 1983 Journal of Toxicological Environmental Health=learning impairment.
* Metabolized in the blood as Carbon Monoxide, stays in the liver and kidneys until completely metabolized, possibly 24 hours.
* 1989 Journal of American Medical Association=liver and brain damage, increased stillbirths and miscarriages.