A-Infos (en) US, Post Seattle, Cops Admit to Cancer Agent in Tear gas

[Mark Laskey <kronstadt@juno.com>]

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by si mitchell 7:58am Wed Apr 12 '00  antidote11@angelfire.com  

Seattle PD used a known cell mutating, coma causing, carcinogen as a
solvent for their cn gas used against peaceful protesters in seattle n30 

The police force responsible for containing demonstrations against the
World Trade Organisation Ministerial conference in November has admitted
to using a cancer causing chemical against peaceful protesters. 
Seattle Police Department ‘Material Safety Data Sheets’, recently
obtained by the Washington Toxins Coalition under the US Public
Disclosure Act, reported that the tear gas and pepper spray irritants,
used during the week of November 28 1999, were mixed half and half with
the solvent methylene chloride. 

Methylene chloride, used industrially in paint stripper, is classified as
a Category 1 carcinogen by the UK Health and Safety Commission. The
American National Library of Medicine’s Toxnet website lists symptons of
exposure to the chemical as: "Lethargy, mental confusion, headache,
tingling of the limbs, acoustical and optical delusions, liver and kidney
damage, increase risk of spontaneous abortion, coma and death." 

Russell Sparks, a student from Bellingham, Washington who was tear gassed
on December 1 said: " I felt like I was on fire. A middle aged man near
me passed out, eyes open, shaking, dry heaving, twitching at the
shoulders. I tried to help but my eyes were burning." 

Article 2 of the Chemical Weapons Convention specifically excludes
chemicals used in domestic situations. It is legal for governments to
chemically quell riots as they see fit. 

A Seattle Police spokesman said that aside from their handguns, "all the
weapons carried by the police are non lethal". Further comment has been
suspended until completion of an internal review of the week’s
operations. 

Leon Eski who travelled from Sussex to oppose the WTO, said: "I was
gassed and sprayed at least four times totally unprovoked. After I got
home I was short of breath for a week or more, experienced pains in my
kidneys and developed mouth ulcers." 

Dr Ray Jones, an Open University toxicologist, said: "Methylene chloride
will go through the skin quickly and into the blood stream. It is very
soluble in fat. Many carcinogens don’t take effect for ten, twenty or
thirty years, by which time it would be impossible to trace the cause."
Jones added that the body would metabolise the chemical into formaldehyde
– an even more toxic category 3 carcinogen. "Spraying methylene chloride
onto someone is very irresponsible," he said. 

Def-Tec, the Wyoming based company, that produced many of the chemical
weapons used in Seattle denied its products had any safety problems. 

The SPD received serious criticism over its handling of the protests.
Residents of the city’s Capitol Hill district complained of gas choking
them in their homes. One woman was reported to have miscarried her baby,
and SPD Chief Norm Stamper resigned.

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