Even as a respiratory physician, I must admit that I was not aware of immediate, long term effects of tear gas.
KARACHI: For most people, ‘tear gas’ seems to imply something innocuous— you would think it’s just a chemical that makes you tear up. In fact, tear gas is a dangerous, potentially lethal chemical agent which is outlawed under the Chemical Weapons Convention. This, I came to know at the World Congress on the Respiratory Diseases organised by the European Respiratory Society held in Munich last week. Even as a respiratory physician, I must admit that I was not aware of the immediate and long term deleterious effects of tear gas on human body.
When tear gas was initially approved for use, research was conducted in a very small dose on soldiers who were well built and were at the peak of their health. Tear gas had never been tested on children, women and elderly before its approval. The use of tear gas in Pakistan, Bahrain, Egypt, and Palestine in recent months, has resulted in many deaths, as in some cases tear gas canisters were fired at a high velocity as projectile weapons, but in other cases it is due to the exposure to the gas itself.
Health consequences of tear gas include coughing, shortness of breath, asthma and other lung-related problems (heightened in people who already have lung problems), skin allergy, delayed menstruation, miscarriages and stillbirths. There are some reports that state that tear gas exposure may cause contact lenses to fuse to the eyes and cause permanent blindness. A survey of 546 people in Turkey who inhaled tear gas during public protests in June 2013 found that 80 per cent of people reported a lasting cough, 70 per cent reported breathing problems, 45 per cent phlegm production and 43 per cent complained of chest pain.
Talking to some of the chest physicians from Islamabad area, I came to know that most doctors are still seeing patients suffering from shortness of breath and coughing who were exposed to tear gas almost two weeks ago. Many international human rights as well as medical organisations are demanding to suspend the use of tear gas until new medical reports dispel any doubts about the appropriateness of resorting to these gases to confront situations of public disorder.
May I request the authorities concerned in Pakistan to review their policy of tear-gassing protesters, especially when small children and women are present?
Dr Javaid Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, September 18th, 2014.
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