6 June 2020
[While I do address the origins of the terms tear gas and pepper spray in this piece, much of what follows has little to do with historical linguistics and instead comes from my experience as a U.S. Army chemical officer and my past work on the U.S. delegation to the Chemical Weapons Convention Preparatory Commission (CWC) and in the Office of the Secretary of Defense during the U.S. Senate’s CWC ratification hearings. The definition and allowed uses of “riot control agents” was a controversial topic during ratification.]
Tear gas is a general term for lachrymatory agents that typically cause eye and respiratory pain and in high doses can irritate the skin. Their effects are generally transitory but can be long-lasting and more serious if the tear gas exacerbates an underlying medical condition. And use during the COVID-19 pandemic carries additional risk by making those exposed to the gas more susceptible to the respiratory illness. Deaths from tear gas are rare, but not unknown, and tear gases are classified as “non-lethal.” They are commonly used by police forces worldwide.
The earliest use of tear gas that I have found is this item that appeared in the Asbury Park Press on 11 November 1910:
Baltimore—Answering a burglar alarms [sic]. Patrolmen Edward Miller and Joseph Bullinger heard thuds and crashes behind the basement door at William T. Corrum’s home.
With guns cocked and tear gas in reserve, they rushed in—and fled, along with a skunk that had a salad dressing jar firmly wedged over its head.
Of course, tear gas and other far more lethal chemicals were widely used during the First World War. Here is a mention of tear gas in the trench newspaper The Wipers Times from 25 December 1916:
I wonder if he’s heard the tale of the Transport Officer and the rum. Of course there are many tales of T.O.’s and rum. The oldest one of all is the one of the T.O. who was coming up with the rations. The said rations included “rum for weary soldiers.” Also the cargo had a consignment of tear-gas in a ram-jar [sic] for the M.O. to try a few experiments with. That is all the tale—but I may as well add that the T.O. recovered.
There is no chemical definition of or criteria for what constitutes a tear gas, and a wide variety of substances are labeled as such. These include: CS gas (2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile), which is used by the U.S. military; CN gas (phenacyl chloride), which is more toxic and therefore less widely used; OC agents (oleoresin capsicum), better known as pepper spray or pepper gas, which are commonly used by police forces; and Mace which is a branded product containing a mix of agents. Mace originally used CN, but that has been replaced by OC agents in most Mace products, although a CN-OC version is still on the market.
The terms pepper spray or pepper gas, referring to OC, are technically accurate, but serve as euphemisms. Oleoresin capsicum is naturally occurring in pepper plants and chili powder and is what gives those foods their pungent taste, but the chemical agents in so-called pepper spray are synthetic, concentrated, and are far nastier than anything found in nature.
The earliest use of pepper gas that I have found is in an Associated Press story of 4 October 1923 about four convicts who attempted an escape from a Kentucky prison, only to end up barricading themselves in the prison’s kitchen:
A tear gas machine brought here last night proved unavailable as the operators could not get close enuf to lossen [sic] its streams effectively. Officials devised the ingenious plan of charging the steam pipes leading to the kitchen with pepper gas intending to smoke the men out.
And the use of pepper spray to refer to a lachrymatory agent dates to at least 8 February 1964 in another Associated Press article:
Pepper Spray Gun Protects Gals Against Muggers
New York (AP)—Women who want to protect themselves against attacks by muggers are now offered a spray repellent which shoots a solution of cayenne pepper about 15 feet.
Among new products is this aerosol device called “rebuff,” offered by Animal Repellents, Griffin, Ga. The manufacturer says this liquid will make any human attacker very uncomfortable for at least 10 minutes but will have no lasting adverse effects. It’s similar to the company’s dog repellent called “Halt!” but is much weaker. The police department of Saigon has ordered 3,600 units of “Rebuff,” the company says.
The fact that there is no clear distinction between chemical agents like CS and CN and chemical agents like OC has resulted in confusion at times. For example, on 1 June 2020 the U.S. Park Police used lachrymatory agents to clear crowds from Lafayette Park, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, to allow Donald Trump to conduct a photo op in front of a church. The Park Police initially denied having used “tear gas,” but later retracted that statement, clarifying that they meant they hadn’t used CS or CN, when in fact they had used “pepper balls.” Then the Park Police retracted the clarification and again insisted they hadn’t used “tear gas.” The Park Police were engaging (ineptly) in semantic sophistry. The term tear gas covers all of these, and they were trying to make a distinction when none existed.
Some wonder why. if chemical warfare agents are banned by international law, specifically by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), police are allowed to use tear gas. The simple answer is that the CWC permits use of riot control agents for domestic law enforcement purposes. I cannot speak to what is permitted under any country’s domestic laws or rules regarding use of force, and those will vary from place to place, but I can address how tear gas and pepper spray are considered under international law.
The CWC regulates toxic chemicals, placing them on three different “Schedules,” depending on their toxicity and use in warfare. But the treaty defines a riot control agent as:
Any chemical not listed in a Schedule, which can produce rapidly in humans sensory irritation or disabling physical effects which disappear within a short time following termination of exposure.
Since they are not on the treaty’s Schedules, riot control agents fall outside the treaty’s ordinary regulation and verification regime, but the treaty still requires that:
Each State Party undertakes not to use riot control agents as a method of warfare.
But the treaty does not define method of warfare. This lack of a definition is deliberate; as the negotiators could not find a definition that all could agree upon, it was left deliberately vague, to be interpreted on a case-by-case basis.
And under purposes not prohibited under this Convention, the CWC includes:
Law enforcement including domestic riot control purposes.
So, to sum up, use of tear gas in war is banned by international law, but the use of tear gas is allowed domestically and in certain undefined, non-combat military situations.
A major reason the phrase method of warfare was left vague is that the United States wanted its military to be able to use riot control agents in certain situations. U.S. military use of riot control agents is governed by Executive Order 11850 of 8 April 1975, signed by Gerald Ford as part of the post-Vietnam reforms of the military. It prohibits:
First use of riot control agents in war except in defensive military modes to save lives such as:
(a) Use of riot control agents in riot control situations in areas under direct and distinct U.S. military control, to include controlling rioting prisoners of war.
(b) Use of riot control agents in situations in which civilians are used to mask or screen attacks and civilian casualties can be reduced or avoided.
(c) Use of riot control agents in rescue missions in remotely isolated areas, of downed aircrews and passengers, and escaping prisoners.
(d) Use of riot control agents in rear echelon areas outside the zone of immediate combat to protect convoys from civil disturbances, terrorists and paramilitary organizations.
The treaty, as written, leaves intact the executive order, except for the first use phrase. Retaliatory use as a method of warfare is illegal.
Furthermore, when it gave its consent to ratification of the CWC, the Senate made the following reservation to the treaty:
(26) Riot control agents:
(A) Permitted uses. — Prior to the deposit of the United States instrument of ratification, the President shall certify to Congress that the United States is not restricted by the Convention in its use of riot control agents, including the use against combatants who are parties to a conflict, in any of the following cases:
(i) United States not a party. — The conduct of peacetime military operations within an area of ongoing armed conflict when the United States is not a party to the conflict (such as recent use of the United States Armed Forces in Somalia, Bosnia, and Rwanda).
(ii) Consensual peacekeeping. — Consensual peacekeeping operations when the use of force is authorized by the receiving state, including operations pursuant to Chapter VI of the United Nations Charter.
(iii) Chapter vii peacekeeping. — Peacekeeping operations when force is authorized by the Security Council under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.
(B) Implementation. — The President shall take no measure, and prescribe no rule or regulation, which would alter or eliminate Executive Order 11850 of April 8, 1975.
This reservation makes E.O. 11850, not the CWC, the only governing authority for U.S. use of riot control agents, but also prevents a future president from unilaterally changing or rescinding the executive order.
So, that’s it. The term tear gas encompasses pepper spray and pepper gas, and while its military use is limited, police are allowed to use it for domestic law enforcement purposes.
Sources:
“Another Guard Dies; Convicts Yet Barricaded in Kitchen.” The Daily Democrat (Tallahassee, FL), 4 October 1923, 1. ProQuest.
“By Order” The B.E.F. Times with Which Are Incorporated the Wipers Times, the ‘New Church’ Times, the Kemmel Times & the Somme-Times, vol. 1, no. 2, 25 December 1916. ProQuest.
“Flashes of Light: Improvised Gas Mask.” Asbury Park Evening Press, 11 November 1910, 17. ProQuest.
Ford, Gerald. Executive Order 11850--Renunciation of Certain Uses in War of Chemical Herbicides and Riot Control Agents. 8 April 1975.
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction. 27 September 2005.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989, s.v. tear, n.1.
Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, September 2005, s.v. pepper spray, n., pepper gas, n.
“Pepper Spray Gun Protects Gals Against Muggers.” Plain-Dealer (Cleveland, OH), 8 February 1964, 20. Newsbank: America’s Historical Newspapers.
U.S. Park Police. “Statement from United States Park Police acting Chief Gregory T. Monahan about the actions taken over the weekend to protect life and property.” 2 June 2020 (updated as of 4 June 2020).
“U.S. Senate’s Conditions to the Ratification of the CWC.” Senate Resolution 75, 105th Congress, 1st Session, 24 April 1997.
Ward, Alex. “US Park Police Said Using ‘Tear Gas’ in a Statement Was a ‘Mistake.’ It Just Used the Term Again.” Vox.com, 5 June 2020.