Fig 5. Severe blistering following exposure to French CS Spray. xxii
there are no operational case studies, only military studies on human volunteers. 108 These studies found that CR increased blood pressure and anxiety and later studies asserted that there was significantly less risk of eye damage than with CN and CS 109 , neither was CR teratogenic (the facility to cause congenital foetal abnormalities, ie birth defects). 110 In the UK, the real significance of CR was as a test case for the Himsworth recommendations following the massive use of CS in Northern Ireland. Himsworth said that in future riot agents should be treated more as drugs with full reporting of the data justifying assertions of safety in the open scientific press before they could be authorised for use. 111 Despite assertions that it followed Himsworths recommendations, the UK Government failed the test - when asked about studies used to justify claims that CR was not mutagenic or carcinogenic, it quoted studies published several years after authorisation had been given. 112 For legal reasons, it is difficult to think of a drug that would be given the go-ahead in such circumstances where the biomedical effects had not been properly evaluated before the drug goes on to the market. Yet given the Health and Safety implications of the use of chemical irritants (not only on those targeted but on the police and security officers who may be exposed on a regular basis) it is important that these biomedical effects are understood and analysed, as if these chemical irritants were in fact new drugs. For reasons of public safety, this report suggests that such studies should be a legal requirement. Then any assertions of safety and less-lethality can be properly defended in a court of law, so that in the future should such assertions prove untrue, it is possible to firmly establish where culpability lies, either with the manufacturer or with the operator. OC & PAVA An earlier STOA Report(PE 166.499) covered the alleged hazardous health effects of Peppergas particularly for those with asthma, taking other medical or recreational drugs or subject to restraining techniques which restrict the breathing passages posing a risk of death. The Los Angeles Times reported at least 61 deaths associated with OC since 1990 in the US and there have been more since. 113 Much of the disquiet was associated with the corruption which took place in regard to the FBI approval of this chemical irritant for police use. FBI special agent Thomas WW Ward was later prosecuted for taking a kickback of $57,000 from a pepper gas manufacturer. Claims that OC was mutagenic and a neurotoxin were later rejected by the US Marines. 114 However for a period afterwards the Marines restricted field training with the irritant because of worries about its safety. US police are enthusiastic about the alleged 90% effectiveness of this irritant in incapacitating humans and reducing injuries to officers. 115 It is easy to understand the need for such an aggressive alternative in the highly armed context of the US. In Europe however, it may be wiser to be more circumspect especially given the need to medically supervise anyone who has been sprayed with peppergas. The previous STOA report advised the European Parliament to err on the side of caution and called for a moratorium on the acquisition, sale and deployment of Oleoresin Capsicum irritant sprays, until independent research is undertaken on its safety and published in full in the scientific press for peer review. Such work is beginning. For example in the Netherlands, 116 the UK and in Sweden. However, different EU States have reached different conclusions , for example Sweden has refused to adopt the agent, partially because of research findings that there was a risk of severe damage to the cornea. 117 These findings are consistent with those of researchers in North Carolina (USA) which report that capsicum is mutagenic, leads to degeneration of nerve fibres in the cornea with associated neuroparalytic keratitis (manifested by corneal edema), brain and nerve damage, liver damage, an increase in peptic ulcer disease and kidney damage. Stopford also stated that there was a range of medical risks associated with the use of OC spray including eye damage; skin blistering and allergic dermatitis; laryngospasm (constriction of breathing passages) and respiratory arrest (with asthmatics being more sensitive with up to 40% decrease in air flow compared to health individuals); pulmonary oedema (fluid in the lungs - the risk of which significantly increases with prior infection); airways reactivity and broncho-spasm; hypertensive crisis leading to acute elevation of blood pressure and hypothermia. 118 There are also contradictory positions on PAVA (the synthetic OC irritant) between different EU states. Whilst IDC of Freienbach, Switzerland, the key European distributer of PAVA (with 18 European patents 119 ) claims its PAVA products are both safe and legal in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, the UK position is that the )Home Office Police Scientific Development Branch considers the information xxiii
- Page 1 and 2: CROWD CONTROL TECHNOLOGIES (An appr
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67. In the SIPRI Yearbook 1998, pag
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82. Chung, C.W., Giles, A.L. (1972)
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105. McNamara, B.P., Rennie, R.A.,
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130. For example one study using a
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The Police Authority of Northern Ir
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173. Statewatch Bulletin (1996). Br
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195. Eg the Armortek water cannon o
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222. http://www.zarc.com/english/ne
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241. OBrien, D. (1991). Op. cit. 24
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260. The isopropyl alcohol used in
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276. Numerous reports from Northern
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285. For example, )using tear gas,
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300. Human Rights Watch (1997) Turk
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312. Aftergood, S. (1994)The Soft-k
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low.( New )candidate immobilizers(
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360. See Business Wire (1999) Battl
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380. These crimes have emerged duri
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US Clearing Dest: Foreign Port Dest
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Mr. Fatchett: In accordance with th
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telephone the police. She remembere