Tear Gas and Pepper Spray: What to Do if You're Exposed
On May 27, justice educator and activist Alicia Crosby posted a tweet that quickly went viral: “I really can't shake how profoundly evil it is to tear gas folks protesting the suffocation of a man by the police during a pandemic driven by a respiratory disease,” she said.
As Crosby noted, activists across the country are demanding justice for George Floyd, a Black man who was killed by a white Minneapolis police officer on May 25. They’re also calling for justice for the anti-Black killings of Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, Nina Pop, Ahmaud Arbery, and untold numbers of other Black people, and seeking meaningful societal change that is centuries overdue. Though the overwhelming majority of these protests have been peaceful, police have often escalated the situation, by showing up in riot gear, and tear-gassing and pepper-spraying crowds who sometimes have no ability to get out of harm’s way.
If you or someone you are protesting with gets hit by one of these compounds, knowing how to act can help alleviate symptoms and provide relief. That’s why viral threads providing DIY help are going viral — but there can be plenty of misinformation out there, too. Here’s what you need to know about these compounds, and what to do if you’re affected by it.
What is tear gas, and how is it different from pepper spray?
Tear gas is a manmade chemical compound, typically made as a powder which is then aerosolized when released from its canister, according to Dr. Natasha Bhuyan, a One Medical family practitioner in Phoenix, Arizona. She told Teen Vogue that physical effects can include irritation in the eyes, skin, nose, and throat. “Something really classic with tear gas is people will get lots of tearing in their eyes, lots of mucus secretion in their respiratory system,” she said. “That’s by design. It’s your body’s inflammatory response.” Tear gas was developed during the first World War and has since been banned from wartime use by the Geneva convention, but is not banned from being deployed on civilians.
Pepper spray, by contrast, uses oleoresin capsicum, an oil found in many hot peppers. It’s oil-based, and can come in several forms: Dr. Bhuyan mentioned a “garden-hose stream,” as well as foam, gel, and a fog. If you’re hit by pepper spray, you can experience similar symptoms to tear gas, though Dr. Bhuyan notes those effects can often last a little longer. How your body reacts to each compound, and for how long, can vary.
The kind of pepper spray used by police is often quite potent, and has the potential to do a lot of damage. It’s also worth noting that Kamran Loghman, one of the people who developed pepper spray for the FBI in the 1980s, disagrees with the way police often use the compound. “I have never seen such an inappropriate and improper use of chemical agents,” he told the New York Times in 2011 after police sprayed civilians at a University of California, Davis, protest.
Both of these compounds are lacrimating agents, Dr. Darien Sutton-Ramsey, an emergency care physician in New York City, told Teen Vogue. “They’re both irritants, and the point is to make you tear up,” he said. And if used at close range, they can do major damage, including temporary blindness and respiratory failure.
How can I protect myself from tear gas or pepper spray?
The best way to protect yourself happens before you even show up at the protest. Dr. Bhuyan advised against wearing contact lenses; wear your glasses for the event, and if you have access to goggles or a face shield, they’re good to bring along. She also warned against wearing makeup. “Both pepper spray and tear gas can cling to things like mascara or lipstick,” she explained.
Dr. Sutton-Ramsey advocated for bringing a towel in addition to your cloth face mask, and plenty of water.
“We are still in a pandemic, so I want to make sure that people are remaining as cautious as possible,” he said. “So make sure that you wear your own mask, maintain a safe level of caution when you’re touching products, and wash your hands regularly.”
Dr. Bhuyan also recommended staying alert, and keeping an eye out as you march. “You can try to be aware of when police are about to deploy these tactics,” she said. “Sometimes you can look at police and see that they are masking up or they're getting ready to deploy these tactics. And that might be a time to get out of there.”
What should I do if I am hit with tear gas or pepper spray outside?
The first step sounds simple, but can be daunting in the middle of police-created chaos: Remove yourself from the area as quickly and as safely as you can. This is why protesting with a friend can be helpful: If one of you is hit with an irritant and cannot see, the other can lead the way to safety. If you’re trying to help someone you don’t know, ask for their consent first.
“An ideal situation would be to call for help, but really just get people out of harm’s way would be number one,” Dr. Rohini Haar, an emergency physician in Oakland, California, and the author of the report Lethal in Disguise: The Health Impacts of Crowd-Control Weapons, told Teen Vogue. She also suggests making sure you can get fresh air, and decontaminate everything from your hands to your face to your eyes by using water or a mild soap.
“The main injuries we see from tear gas and pepper spray are typically severe allergic or burn reactions,” she said. “In the ER we would provide supplemental oxygen, but at home you can make sure that you’re getting lots of fresh air.” Given the current coronavirus pandemic, and the fact that protesters will likely be wearing masks, that can be difficult. “It’s not a great time for police to be overly using tear gas, I’ll say it that way,” she added.
If tear gas or pepper spray get into your eyes, Dr. Sutton-Ramsey recommends flushing the area with lots of water — and always make sure your hands are clean before you go near your or anyone else’s face. Hospitals use a liter of saline solution to get the job done, but clean water should do in a moment of crisis.
“The goal is to get the pH of the eye, which is the level of acidity, to the normal level that it should be,” he explained. If you did wear contacts, he also recommended removing them as quickly as you can, though you should try to clean your hands prior to doing so. Dr. Bhuyan also recommends blinking rapidly if you can, because that is the body’s natural response to flushing an irritant out of your eye.
Because pepper spray is often oil-based, it might take some more work. Dr. Bhuyan recommends using diluted baby shampoo, which is often marked no-tears, to help break down the oils.
Does milk actually work as a remedy?
The idea that milk might bring some relief to people who have been gassed or sprayed stems from the same belief that the beverage helps you calm down after eating something really spicy. But all three doctors Teen Vogue spoke with stressed that there’s little evidence that it works better than water when treating exposure to pepper spray — and as Dr. Sutton-Ramsey said, water is often “the easiest thing to get.”
“It really has not been shown to have any difference in outcome when you’re using milk, or baking soda,” instead of water, he said. “Someone was also telling me about Maalox. There’s all these products that people think would be helpful, but there haven’t been any shown differences.”
Dr. Haar agreed, especially when it comes to tear gas, which she noted, “is not an acid that you need to neutralize with a base. It activates pain receptors. It works in a different way.” She added, “every single country and town that I’ve worked in uses something else and swears by it, but the few studies about what works shows that really none of it works as well as lots of air and water.”
As for the home remedies of baking soda and water, Dr. Bhuyan cautioned against using those mixes around your eyes, because baking soda might scratch your cornea.
How do I know if symptoms are bad enough to need an ER visit?
If you or someone you know was hit by either tear gas or pepper spray, you should expect symptoms to last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. If the itchiness or burning lasts longer than an hour, Dr. Haar recommended decontaminating yourself again — and taking a shower, if you are able to do so — and changing your clothes. If that doesn’t help, you might want to consider finding licensed medical care. One thing to definitely act on, however, is shortness of breath: “If you have any issues with breathing, then it’s time to seek medical attention,” she said.
Dr. Sutton-Ramsey also stressed that your ability to seek care shouldn’t end if you are arrested. “If you have been exposed to a chemical irritant or you were hit by something and you are having distress, it is your civil right to get medical attention,” he said. “It would be hurtful if people sat and had chemical irritants on them that needed to be neutralized. I would want to decrease the risk of permanent injury.”
What else do I need to know about tear gas and pepper spray?
For one, that many police officers don’t appear to be using them in an appropriate manner: Dr. Haar stressed that often, instead of aiming for the far edges of crowds, she’s seen videos of police increasingly throwing these irritants into the center. That can cause more confusion and chaos than actually allowing people to disperse.
“It’s a weapon just like every other weapon,” she said. “So when it’s misused is when it’s most dangerous.” She stresses trying to stay away from enclosed spaces, or locations without easy exit paths.
Police should only resort to these irritants, Dr. Haar believes, adding, “as a weapon of last resort, really, to protect public safety. And that’s not really what I see now. I see it being used kind of indiscriminately and pervasively to disperse protests.” Dr. Bhuyan agreed, adding that she is “fully aligned that the way some law enforcement are using these are not the way they’re intended.”
Even so, Dr. Haar stressed that it is your fundamental right to protest so safely. “Protests are legal,” she said. “They’re a way for young people and all humans to exercise their basic rights like freedom of speech and public assembly.”
By Jessica Castillo for Teen Vogue