May Day is just around the corner. State repression has been increasing because of the coronovirus and lockdowns. I can't know what police violence you'll face, but what I can do is give you some medically accurate tips for how to deal with riot control weapons. A thread.

First up, pepper spray.

Pepper spray can be one of several things. Normally it refers to OC (oleoresin capsicum) spray, but it may also be mixed with CN gas. In the UK, PAVA spray is used instead of OC. The effects are similar.

Commonly mace means pepper spray, but it should be noted that mace originally referred to Chemical Mace, a name brand of dissolved CN gas. Anyway.

Pepper spray is typically sprayed with a handheld canister, but it may also be deployed via backpack, pepperball gun, or pepperball grenades.

Pepper spray is sprayed as a liquid that needs to come into direct contact with the target to be effective. Not much is aerosolized, and it's range is limited. Even with wind, it's primarily effective at only a few meters.

Pepper spray works by binding to the TRPV1 receptor and causes a sensation of heat and pain. Pepper spray does not thermally burn you unless are unlucky enough to be using pyrotechnics or smoking which may ignite the propellant.

Pepper spray causes a feeling of burning after coming into contact with skin and significant pain if it comes into contact with mucous membranes such as the eyes, nose, and mouth. If inhaled, it will cause coughing.

Pain lasts between 15-30, but the peak and duration can be mitigated by flushing the affected body part with water or saline (more on that later). Even after flushing, the body part may have a mild sensation of warmth and burning for several hours after exposure.

Treatment and prevention of both pepper spray and tear gas are nearly the same, so let's cover tear gas before going on how to un-fuck your eyes.

Next up, tear gas.

Tear gas is a bit of a misnomer as it is not a gas, but an aerosol (find particles or droplets suspended in the air). In some regions, it's called tear smoke.

Tear gas is typically CS gas, but it may be either CN or CR gasses. This distinction is important because CR reacts with water to cause additional burning*. You'll want to check canisters.

* (I have never experienced this, but everyone says it, so I'm inclined to believe it)

Tear gas can be deployed in a number of ways: thrown grenades, launched 40mm multi-projectiles, sprayed from vehicles, or even fired via projectiles packed with micro-powder.

Effects of tear gas vary by concentration.

Low: watering eyes, increased nasal mucous production, irritation of the lungs, coughing

Medium: profuse coughing, involuntary closing of the eyes, difficulty breathing

Heavy: fainting, vomiting, lungs filling with fluid, death

[CW: gore]
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Those are the primary injuries. Tear gas canisters can explode and blow off your hand. They can cause significant lacerations and burns. The can even kill you.

There are many urban legends about how to treat pepper spray and tear gas, and so many medics swear by these treatments and wildly use them. So many, in fact, that I lost it and wrote a whole fucking book in an attempt to address this.

There are two treatments that are known to be effective: water and saline (and lots of it).

Sudecon supposedly is quite effective, but it's produced by those who profit off the sale of riot control weapons. And it's effective. Fuck that.

Saline is water and 0.90% w/v sodium chloride. It's isotonic (has the same amount of solute as your cells) so it irritates mucous membranes less when using it for treatment. You can make it yourself.

1 liter water, 9 grams of NaCl.

If you don't have saline, tap water does the job just fine. It's readily available at action, it's cheap, and you can always get a refill.

Remember: water or saline.

(I'll get to urban legends later)

(Also if you don't like this as a thread or want more detail, I have a whole 26 pages written about this. Go download it.)

Treatment is principally:

- get away from the source of riot control agent
- remove contaminated clothing
- flush with water or saline until pain stops

(Note that I'm just going to say "water" instead of "water and saline" from now on to save characters.)

If you are wearing contacts when you get sprayed or gassed, you will need to remove them to flush your eyes. Failing to do so can push them up into your eye socket. This isn't good. You might not be able to do this at first due to burning, so flush your eyes a bit then remove.

To flush your eyes, use your thumb and forefinger to spread open your eyelids. You won't be able to voluntarily open them. Use a water bottle (better: a pneumatic bottle) to spray water directly into your eyes from just a few centimeters. If you have a buddy, this is easier.

Pneumatic bottles are ideal for this. They have tube extending into the bottom for continuous, controllable pressure. They work when nearly empty. Also, they allow you or your comrade to keep your head tilted forward to prevent contaminated runoff from getting on them.

For pepper spray, you are going to have to flush a shitload. I'm talking liters per person over something like 10 minutes. Yeah, a quick flush gets a lot, but it's a long process. For tear gas, it's a bit quicker. A quick spritz is all that's needed (often).

Up this thread, I mentioned CR gas reacts with water. Once its in the eyes, it's reacting. Flush, flush, flush.

Otherwise, check the canisters. If it's CR, brush off as much as you can.

That's basically it. Get away from the RCA. Take out contacts. Remove contaminated clothes. Flush with water.

If you have asthma, you'll probably want to use your inhaler to prevent airway constriction.

Now. About those urban legends. We're going to start with the most common and medically plausible before going on to those that are less so.

LAW (liquid antacid and water) is the bread and butter of street medicine, but it has limited proven effectiveness. Many medics swear by it, but there are clinical studies with mixed results.

One study that found small improvements when using liquid antacid compared to the control group (water) nonetheless concluded "the difference in [pain levels] may have questionable clinical significance."

DOIs:
10.1111/j.1553-2712.2003.tb00057.x
10.1080/10903120802290786

Water, and all liquids, are heavy. Carrying a ton of water and LAW probably isn't worth it. Everyone brings a small bottle of water to an action for hydration, and when someone gets sprayed or gasses, you can use that to decontaminate.

Another common treatment for tear gas and pepper spray is baby shampoo. Three studies showed that it has no more effect than water or saline.

DOIs:
10.1111/j.1553-2712.2003.tb00057.x
10.1016/j.survophthal.2016.01.002
10.5811/westjem.2017.12.36307

Another common treatment is cow's milk, which after study was shown to be no more effective than control.

Also, pouring warm milk in your eyes is gross and sticky.

Also, look how dumb you look when doing it.

Some people suggest breathing over a cut onion or through a bandana soaked in vinegar.

As an experiment, try either of these at home without tear gas. Your eyes will water, and eventually your lungs will get irritated. These are not effective.

Other urban legends are:

- MOFIBA (mineral oil followed immediately by alcohol)
- lidocaine
- toothpaste
- citrus (lemon/lime)
- yeast
- baking soda paste
- hydrogen peroxide

At best, they do nothing. At worst, they will increase pain.

As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, so let's go over how to avoid the effects of getting pepper sprayed or tear gassed.

The goals are: keep it out of your eyes, keep it out of your lungs, keep it off your skin.

(roughly in that order)

If you wear contacts, do not wear them to protests. Yes, there is an OpSec tradeoff for wearing glasses, but you can decide that on your own.

Even with protection, you will eventually get some gas/spray in your eyes, and if you have contacts in, it's game over.

For protection, swimming goggles will create an airtight seal that will keep out all sorts of riot control agent. Unless you are using a full face respirator, these are your best bet.

Other options are moto goggles with the vents sealed with caulk.

If you don't want to or can't, use clear safety glasses.

No matter what you pick, remember that clear partially reveals your eyes, but even the lightest tint is way too much at night.

It may sound stupid, but wearing a hat with a brim is remarkable effective against pepper spray. When you see a cop raise their spray, tilt your head down. The brim will keep a significant amount out of your face.

Anything you wear to cover your face will help against pepper spray and tear gas. Even just a bandana soaked in water. If you can, FFP2 or N99 masks (or better) will offer significant protection.

These may be hard to find due to the coronavirus and limited supplies.

And again. Improvised masks will help against inhaling tear gas, but they won't keep it out of your eyes. The tighter the seal and the tighter the weave, the more protection they will offer.

If you found this helpful, much more detail can be found in my book. It should be out quite soon (for free!), but until then you can check out a preview here.

There's chapters on riot control agents, less-lethal weapons, and PPE (and more) https://riotmedicine.net/downloads 

I said this thread would cover riot control weapons beyond tear gas and pepper spray, but I got lazy.

Water cannons can knock you over and knock your eyes out of their sockets.

Rubber bullets can break bones, burst eyes, and kill.

Flashbands and LRADs are loud. Wear ear plugs.

Because this thread is getting attention again, if you made it this far, my book is out now. Go download it!