The CWC does not treat tear gas as a banned chemical weapon, instead classifying it as a riot control agent (RCA). Article II(7) defines RCA as “[a]ny chemical … which can produce rapidly in humans sensory irritation or disabling physical effects which disappear within a short time … .” CWC Article I(5) prohibits using RCA “as a method of warfare,” but does not define the term method of warfare, leading to a potential exception or “loophole.”

https://www.justsecurity.org/76595/clearing-the-fog-of-war-s...

Pedanticisim aside, the .mil requires risk assessments up the wazoo for every training event, let alone using CS/OC, and they should have expected this. Hope it deploys and dissipates for 60 year old anything is a bad gamble in the desert, let alone a built up occupied urban area.

He didn't say otherwise. Under the legal definition, my 'death vindaloo' made with 3 moruga scorpion peppers is a chemical weapon, and simply the act of cooking it as a combatant in a warzone would constitute a war crime. It's also immensely delicious and one of my favorite meals, I make it twice a month.

CS gas is 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile [1], not capsacin. "Although [CS gas is] described as a non-lethal weapon for crowd control, studies have raised doubts about this classification. CS can cause severe pulmonary damage and can also significantly damage the heart and liver." [1]

Tear gas is largly bromoacetone, not capsacin [2]. Though, CS gases and tear gases can contain mixtures with capsacin AFAIK.

It's funny, except when the police flood urban areas with this stuff. EG: "Seattle Residents Got Tear Gassed in Their Own Apartments" [3]

A SF school added to that list is sad.

Sure though, we can make jokes whenever you cook that you prepared a weapon of war.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CS_gas

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tear_gas

[3] https://www.thestranger.com/slog/2020/06/04/43840246/seattle...

I remember a fun little fact back from the run-up to the Iraq War: Under some sections of US code, a single hand-grenade is (was?) literally a "weapon of mass destruction."