How does tear gas work? Can it cause permanent harm?
Tim Tai/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS
Christopher Rapuano, chief of the cornea service at Wills Eye Hospital, got a small dose of tear gas a few years ago as he stood on the fringes of a demonstration in Hong Kong. His eyes started to burn. Then they teared up and his vision blurred. He ran to fresher air. Chris Cramer, a University of Minnesota chemist, got much bigger doses while in the Army, where he was a chemical-weapons specialist. “It feels as though bees are stinging you in your eyes,” Cramer said. Your throat involuntarily closes. Mucus streams from your nose. Your skin feels sunburned. “It’s a special kind of misery.” A new generation is learning about tear gas the hard way as authorities try to control demonstrations after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.