CAIRO: Hands shake, coughing ensues and the chest tightens. As Egypt recovers from nearly 6 consecutive days of clashes, which ended last week, the effects of the tear gas being fired on protesters and the journalists covering the fighting between police and protesters still lingers. This CS Gas was the predominant form or tear gas used by the Egyptian police, although other gases, including CR Gas, was also reported. According to the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, exposure to a single attack can have lasting effects of up to 8 months or longer. In the study, a group of individuals had been attacked by police tear gas – CS Gas to be exact – and the researchers investigated the short-term and long-term effects of the gas on their bodies. The results are staggering. At least five of the individuals with direct exposure had symptoms one-year on from the attack. They reported coughing fits, a lessening ability to excercise, respiratory problems and asthma. “1 individual from the direct contact group reported ocular ulcers,” the report said. “‘Other' symptoms included intermittent paraesthesiae in the arms (1, direct contact) and aching joints and hip pains (2, indirect contact).” Already, Egyptians have reported the above hand shaking, increased asthma, intestinal problems, chest pains and other symptoms that are likely a direct result of high exposure to the substance. As far back as 1969, the British Home Office reported that “whilst exposure to CS spray can be lethal in the form of toxic pulmonary damage, leading to pulmonary oedema, such an occurrence would only occur at concentrations that were several hundred times greater than exposure dosage that produces intolerable symptoms which would force the individual to leave the vicinity.” In Egypt over the past week, hundreds of individuals have been exposed to massive doses nearly around the clock. They have already reported to Bikyamasr.com that they are constantly coughing. One activist, on the front lines of Mohamed Mahmoud Street in downtown Cairo – the focal point of clashes between protesters and police – told Bikyamasr.com that “my hands continue to shake, even when I am laying in bed and sometimes my eyes go blurry.” That was days after the last exposure. CS Gas, in 1988, was suspended by the Federal Laboratories Inc in the United States for sale. Ironically, however, the vast majority of CS canisters fired in the first days of the conflict in Egypt were manufactured by Combined Tactical Systems of Jamestown, Pennsylvania in the United States. Although before this past week in Egypt, only one media report said a person had died of tear gas use, the experience of Egyptian activists, as the months to come will likely prove, may be an ideal case study for future research on tear gas and its effects on populations. 1988 the Federal Laboratories Inc in the USA suspended sale of the agent. It is also banned for military use under numerous conventions on weapons, including the 1993 Paris Convention. Other research, conducted by the US military previously, said CS Gas causes heart and liver damage over a lengthy period as well as resulting in miscarriages and infertility. The US military has banned its use, but the Pennsylvania company continues to produce the gas for international supply. “I just don't get it and it is frustrating,” said Gamal Ahmed, a 24-year-old protester, who said he spent hours daily in “the middle of tear gas attacks” last week. He said that he continues to struggle with blurred vision and constant shaking. “I also get angry and frustrated for no reason. I think it has to be the gas and I am so angry at the United States for allowing Egypt to purchase it.” The State Department, in an attempt to downplay its role in the use of American-made tear gas, said that they did not allocate funds for the Egyptian military or police to purchase tear gas. Many now question how the Egyptian government, for a number of years, stockpiled massive amounts of tear gas. Now, as the tear gas dissipates from the air around downtown Cairo, Egyptians will be forced to face the long-term effects of the gas, which medical sources told Bikyamasr.com “may take a long while to fully understand due to the overall lack of studies on the substances in the past.” BM
