Riot control agents chemicals

As used in this chapter, a chemical agent is defined as a chemical substance intended for use in military operations to kill, seriously injure, or incapacitate a person through its physiological effects. Riot control agents, chemical herbicides, smoke, and flame are not officially defined as chemical agents. 

Article II covers definitions and criteria . The term chemical weapons is to apply to toxic, lethal, super-toxic and harmful chemicals including key precursors, except where they are intended for purposes not prohibited by the Convention as long as the types and quantities involved are consistent with such purposes . It also embraces munitions and devices specifically designed to cause death or other harm by releasing toxic chemicals. Further work remains to be done on this article to cover the position of riot control agents, chemicals which, although not toxic in themselves, could be used to increase the effect of chemical munitions, and the definitions relating to binary munitions. 

An incapacitant is a chemical agent, which produces a temporary disabling condition that persists for hours to days after exposure to the agent has occurred (unlike that produced by riot control agents). Medical treatment while not essential may in some cases facilitate more rapid recovery. In the narrower sense the term has come to mean those agents that are ... 

In the event of (a) the use of chemical weapons or riot control agents as a method of warfare, and/or (b) the threat of the use of chemical weapons, and/or (c) the threat of actions or activities prohibited for States Parties by Article I ... 

Uses. Chemical warfare agent (CN) principal constituent in riot control agent Mace in tear gas formulations for personal protection devices... 

The Himsworth report19,20 recommended that any chemical agent that might be used as a riot-control agent be studied in the same way as a new therapeutic drug. To a considerable extent, this has been done with CS. 

Ballantyne, B. 1977. Riot control agents. Biomedical and health aspects of the use of chemicals In civil disturbances. IN Scott, R.B., and Frazer, J., eds. Medical Annual 1977. Bristol, England John Wright. 1977. p. 7-41. 

Owens, E.J., Wilding, J.L., and Hart, J.W. The comparative effectiveness of four riot control agents. U.S. Army Chemical Warfare Laboratories, Army Chemical Center, Md. Technical Memorandum 24-18. 1958. 6 p. 

Riot control agent A chemical substance used for crowd control, e.g., pepper spray or tear gas. 

The ban on the use of chemical weapons, as codified in the 1925 Geneva Protocol, was considered to constitute international law, applicable to all states. Yugoslavia had ratified the protocol and at no time indicated any desire to repudiate its treaty obligations. In earlier years certain countries, including the United States which used massive quantities of tear gas in the Vietnam War, maintained the protocol did not ban the use of riot control agents. However, incapacitating agents, like BZ, were not included in this apparent exception. 

For the purpose of implementing the CWC, toxic chemicals and precursors, which have been identified for the application of verification measures, are listed in Schedules contained in the Annex on Chemicals (for the Schedules, see Chapter 2). Schedule 1 includes chemicals developed, produced, stockpiled, or used as a chemical weapon as defined above, and chemicals structurally close to them. Schedule 2 lists three toxic chemicals not included in Schedule 1 and the degradation products and precursors of these toxic chemicals as well as of those of Schedule 1. Schedule 3 lists four toxic chemicals and precursors not listed in the other Schedules. The Schedules contain mainly organic chemicals with different chemical and physical properties, being neutral chemicals, acids, bases, volatiles, and nonvolatiles, where phosphorus, fluorine, sulfur, chlorine, nitrogen, and oxygen occur frequently. Riot control agents are not included in the Schedules. 

The definitions and criteria that determine whether a chemical falls within the scope of the CWC or not, leaves a large number of chemicals in the gray area. One example of a group of chemicals that are excluded from the OCAD on the basis of purposes not prohibited under this Convention , is given by the Riot Control Agents . There are other examples, which need to be addressed in the future to determine how they can be regulated by the CWC as these have been seen to be very useful in the verification activities of the OPCW. Efforts are underway to find a way for the inclusion in the OCAD, of chemicals that are relevant to the CWC but are not covered by the schedule list (Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and Validation Group (VG)). 

The procedures referred to in this article are not applicable for analysis of ricin. Analysis of some of the scheduled inorganic chemicals may also require special approach. These are (by the Schedule number) the chemicals 2.B.7, 3.B.5, 3.B.6, 3.B.7, 3.B.12, 3.B.13, and 3.B.14. Riot control agents are not included in the Schedules, but are analyzable with the methods presented. 

Suitability of NMR spectroscopy and the detection limits for the analysis of the Schedule 1-3 chemicals (16) are summarized below. Riot-control agents and vomiting agents are normally soluble in organic solvents, and are readily analyzed by NMR (11,39). 

Some of the most common chemical warfare and riot control agents are presented in Figure 11. Both lightpipe and cryodeposition type spectra are presented. 

Capsaicin is also the active ingredient in the chemical riot control agent, pepper spray. When the spray comes in contact with skin, especially eyes or mucous membranes, it is very painful. In large quantities, capsaicin can be a lethal poison. Symptoms of overdose include difficulty in breathing, blue skin and convulsions and uncontrollable, painful nipple erections. Even though the... 

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