2023-05-01 18:16:52
Burning sensation, tearing, difficult breathing… The immediate effects of exposure to tear gas are numerous. Since the beginning of the demonstrations against the pension reform, the latter have been used almost systematically by the police to disperse the demonstrators.
But what are their health risks? “The use of these gases has been so trivialized that scientists have the impression that the question has been covered, but that is not true”, deplores Alexander Samuel, former “yellow vest” and doctor in molecular biology. Although they were first used shortly before the First World War, tear gas has still been the subject of little study. In 2020, Alexander Samuel co-wrote a report published by the Association toxicologie chimie (ATC), with the French chemist and toxicologist André Picot. According to this study, the “CS” molecules present in tear gas metabolize once absorbed by the human body into two cyanide molecules.
No studies on long-term consequences
“In this case, oxygen accumulates, and an excess of oxygen in the tissues causes stress to all organs. This is where cells will die,” explains the biologist. During tear gas exposure, this process is invisible and often minimal. “As no one dies immediately, we say to ourselves that there are no risks, but in the long term the consequences have not been studied”, continues Alexander Samuel.
Among the effects, the skin suffers from irritation. The molecule contained by the gas can burn the nerve endings, “this usually corresponds to a first degree burn, but can go up to the second or third degree”, assures the scientist. There may also be inflammation of the lungs. Fluid can then form inside and create pulmonary oedema. The eyes would ultimately be the least impacted organs – apart from irritation and tearing –, according to the data identified. But tests carried out on animals revealed that some suffered scratches on the cornea. None has so far been observed on a human cornea, “because you would have to take your eyes off to see it”says Alexander Samuel.
Several organs impacted, the ministry denies the dangerousness
On the side of the Ministry of the Interior, it is assured that “Tear gas is a locally and temporarily irritating gas” and that he “is not dangerous to health”. But for now, only tests in the military setting on young and healthy men have been carried out. “Women and asthmatics, for example, could be at greater risk,” assures the co-author of the report published by the ATC. In the 1970s, a Himsworth Committee study of tear gas use in Northern Ireland raised concerns about the repeated exposure of people with asthma to tear gas.
But according to Alexander Samuel, the brain, kidneys and liver remain the organs most at risk. « A significant effect on the central nervous system has been described, which can go as far as the degeneration of certain regions of the cbrain”, indicates – among other things – the report. Alexander Samuel denounces a legal vacuum in the face of these potential risks.
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