Riot control agents: The case for regulation.

Abstract

Tear gas, first used in World War One, is increasingly becoming the weapon of choice for security forces across the globe. Anna Feigenbaum offers a bleak picture of how companies - with a particular focus on Condor in Brazil - are capitalising on this trend and reaping financial benefits by marketing it as a "non-lethal" weapon. She demonstrates how in reality categorising tear gas as "non-lethal" is at best misguided and at worst disingenuous. Feigenbaum sets out the historical reasons for this "non-lethal" categorisation of tear gas - ones which governments and big business are happy to rely on today despite the ever increasing body of evidence that shows the extreme human rights abuses that its use inflicts on civilian populations worldwide.