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Global Trade in Tear Gas is Booming
How the global trade in tear gas is booming [bbc.com]
Non-lethal weapons are a multibillion-dollar-a-year business and the industry seems to be growing. The industry could be worth more than $9bn by 2022, according to Allied Market Research, a company that does industry forecasting. [Combined Systems, Inc (CSI)] supplies not only Egypt, but also Israel, Bahrain and US police departments, like the one in Ferguson, Missouri.
According to Amnesty International and internal letters published by the Egypt Independent newspaper, Combined Systems, Inc shipped tens of thousands of rounds of tear gas to the Egyptian government between 2011 and 2013, even as the crackdown on protesters became more deadly. The backlash against tear gas grew as more was sent to the country. After a particularly brutal series of clashes in 2011, dock workers in Suez refused a shipment of tear gas from CSI, saying they did not want to participate in further pain or death.
"Almost everywhere [that] we see images of large-scale protest, we will see on the streets a Combined Systems, Inc product," said Anna Feigenbaum, who wrote a book on the history of tear gas.
It's a common name for a family of chemical irritants, not actually gases, but fine powders dispersed by spray or aerosol. Tear gas doesn't just make your eyes water; it causes a burning sensation, difficulty breathing, chest pain and skin irritation. It can lead to nausea and vomiting. It's considered a chemical weapon.
[...] The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention banned the use of tear gas in war, but many countries, including the US, still deploy it against domestic uprisings and unrest. Worldwide, the use of tear gas seems to be on the rise, but governments don't track its use so getting hard numbers can be difficult. [...] [Protesters] have died from tear gas - in Egypt, in Gaza, in Bahrain. Some died from asphyxiation, when gas was fired in too concentrated a dose in too small a space. And some died from the canisters themselves.
