{"id":2109,"date":"2022-07-08T16:36:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T20:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/tear-gas-senators-decry-lack-of-federal-safety-assessment-22\/"},"modified":"2023-07-24T11:05:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-24T15:05:00","slug":"tear-gas-senators-decry-lack-of-federal-safety-assessment-22","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/tear-gas-senators-decry-lack-of-federal-safety-assessment-22\/","title":{"rendered":"Tear gas: Senators decry lack of federal safety assessment"},"content":{"rendered":"

SALEM, Ore. (AP) \u2014 In 2020, Black Lives Matter protesters
\nwere doused with tear gas, making them gasp for breath, their eyes feeling as
\nif they were on fire. Bystanders, including children and pregnant women, were
\nalso exposed.<\/p>\n

As police responded to mass protests across the nation two
\nyears ago with tear gas and other chemical munitions, more than a dozen U.S. senators asked<\/a> the congressional watchdog
\nto find out whether federal agencies have assessed how safe they are.<\/p>\n

Pero the report<\/a> by the Government Accountability Office
\nskipped that question, dedicating only three paragraphs to the effects of
\n\u201cchemical irritants\u201d and flash-bangs. Both of the U.S. senators from Oregon \u2014
\nwhere the Trump administration deployed militarized federal agents \u2014 believe
\nthe report leaves too many questions unanswered and are calling for regulation
\nof the tear gas industry.<\/p>\n

The GAO report noted there were incidents in which less-lethal
\nforce may have been used by federal agents in violation of policy, but provided
\nno details.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis report is completely inadequate,\u201d U.S. Sen. Jeff
\nMerkley, D-Oregon, one of the report requesters, said through spokeswoman Molly
\nPrescott. \u201cCongress and the American people deserve to know the details to
\nbetter understand the significant issues and damage done by inappropriate use
\nof less-lethal force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Portland, Oregon\u2019s largest city, was an epicenter of the
\nprotests, with months of nightly, often violent demonstrations and vandalism
\nfollowing the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Portland police
\nused tear gas and pepper balls against protesters, and the Trump administration
\nsent militarized federal agents to the city, starting in July 2020.<\/p>\n

At least 1,315 federal officers were deployed to Oregon,
\naccording to a redacted document obtained by U.S Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, from
\nthe Department of Homeland Security. They used more than a dozen different
\ntypes of crowd-control devices, including 40 mm canisters loaded with tear gas
\nor an oily extract of pepper plants, 40mm \u201cdirect impact rounds\u201d loaded with
\ntear gas or pepper compounds, smoke grenades and foggers that emit chemical
\nirritants, the document showed.<\/p>\n

Law enforcement officials say tear gas, if used properly, is
\nan effective tool for crowd control. On Sunday, police in Akron, Ohio, used
\ntear gas against people protesting the shooting of Jayland Walker, a Black man
\nwho was killed by police on June 27 in a hail of gunfire.<\/p>\n

Wyden isn\u2019t satisfied with the GAO report and will keep
\npressing for answers, spokesman Hank Stern said.<\/p>\n

Gretta Goodwin, a director of the GAO and lead author of the
\nreport released late last year, said her office was unable to answer the
\nsenators\u2019 question on whether federal agencies have assessed the safety and
\neffectiveness of tear gas and other chemical munitions, or their impacts on
\nunderlying health conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe start out by looking to see what information is out
\nthere,\u201d Goodwin said over the phone. \u201cWe weren\u2019t really able to find anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instead of government oversight, the multi-billion-dollar
\nindustry regulates itself, a situation Wyden believes must end.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe will push … for the appropriate federal agencies to
\noversee the manufacture of tear gas in our country, as well as to undertake an
\nurgently needed non-industry and neutral study into the impact of these weapons
\non human health and the environment,\u201d Stern said.<\/p>\n

El Associated
\nPress previously found<\/a> few studies exist on the health effects of tear
\ngas, with many being old and focusing on military personnel, who tend to be
\nhealthier and in better physical condition than the general public.<\/p>\n

The GAO found that three federal agencies \u2014 the Marshals
\nService, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Secret Service \u2014 don\u2019t
\neven document when officers violate their agencies\u2019 policies while using these
\nweapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat needs to be known. That needs to be more transparent,\u201d
\nGoodwin said.<\/p>\n

Among controversial tactics and actions taken by law
\nenforcement during Black Lives Matter protests: \u201cKettling,\u201d in which police
\nseal off escape routes while blanketing people in tear gas and firing
\npepperballs; and firing projectiles point-blank at people. Donavan LaBella
\nsuffered severe injuries while peacefully protesting in Portland when he was
\nhit in the face by a projectile fired by a federal officer.<\/p>\n

Samira Green, pregnant at the time, found herself enveloped
\nby tear gas fired by Portland police on June 2, 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiterally, you cannot breathe anything. It is clenched,\u201d
\nGreen said, describing how her lungs seemed to seize up.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns
\nthat \u201clong-lasting exposure or exposure to a large dose of riot control agent,
\nespecially in a closed setting\u201d may cause blindness, glaucoma, severe chemical
\nburns to the throat and lungs, respiratory failure and death.<\/p>\n

The GAO report footnoted a 2016 study by Physicians for
\nHuman Rights and the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations on
\nhealth consequences of crowd-control weapons.<\/p>\n

But the congressional watchdog agency should have noted that
\n\u201cour data is quite limited because there is no transparency about the weapons,\u201d
\nsaid Rohini Haar, co-author of the 2016 study.<\/p>\n

Tear gas, which is banned in warfare by the Chemical Weapons
\nConvention, is getting more powerful, Haar said. Silicon is sometimes added to
\nmake tear gas last longer in the air and on surfaces, even though its health
\neffects are unknown, said Haar, an emergency room physician and researcher at
\nthe University of California School of Public Health in Berkeley.<\/p>\n

Haar said it\u2019s time for the U.S. government to either do its
\nown research on riot-control agents or support others to conduct it.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SALEM, Ore. (AP) \u2014 In 2020, Black Lives Matter protesters were doused with tear gas, making them gasp for breath, their eyes feeling as if they were on fire. Bystanders, including children and pregnant women, were also exposed. As police responded to mass protests across the nation two years ago with tear gas and other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-in-the-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTear gas: Senators decry lack of federal safety assessment - Merkley<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.merkley.senate.gov\/es\/tear-gas-senators-decry-lack-of-federal-safety-assessment-22\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tear gas: Senators decry lack of federal safety assessment - Merkley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SALEM, Ore. 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