{"id":11636,"date":"2012-08-09T09:16:19","date_gmt":"2012-08-09T16:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=11636"},"modified":"2012-08-09T09:16:19","modified_gmt":"2012-08-09T16:16:19","slug":"bahrain-regime-off-the-leash-gassing-operations-is-chemical-warfare-against-civilans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=11636","title":{"rendered":"Bahrain Regime “off-the-leash” Gassing Operations is Chemical Warfare against Civilans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bahrain finds an off-label use for tear gas as chemical warfare.<\/em><\/p>\n

Bahrain: the Tear Gas Regime<\/strong>
\nBy Steve Fake, August 9, 2012<\/p>\n

Physicians for Human Rights just released a report on the Bahraini government\u2019s pervasive use of tear gas to repress its restive civilian population. Bahrain has raised the global bar on the usage of tear gas to unprecedented heights. It has become the Tear Gas Regime.<\/p>\n

Consider this excerpt from the PHR report:<\/p>\n

\u201cPHR investigators visited one home in which residents provided \u201cguest gas masks\u201d to visitors exposed to toxic chemical agents in and around the home. \u201cWe\u2019ve been exposed to tear gases almost every day,\u201d said one resident of a Shi\u2019a neighborhood. \u201cWe\u2019ve had canisters shot in the house, on the doorstep, and on the roof. We\u2019ve had so many attacks, I can\u2019t count the number of times. You don\u2019t need to go outside to smell the \u2018tear gas.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The report continues:<\/p>\n

\u201cPreliminary analysis of data suggests that the majority of Shi\u2019a neighborhoods (comprising 80% of all neighborhoods in Bahrain) have been exposed to toxic chemical agent attacks at least once per week since February 2011.\u201d<\/p>\n

That is a remarkable record of sustained gassing. What does this mean for the neighborhoods and villages affected? As PHR details:<\/p>\n

\u201cSymptoms of CS [the most commonly used chemical agent in contemporary \u2018tear gas\u2019 worldwide] exposure include severe tearing, burning in the nose and throat, eye spasms, chest tightness, coughing, and wheezing among other signs of oral and respiratory distress.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imagine encountering that on a daily or weekly basis as many Shia neighborhoods in Bahrain now are.<\/p>\n

There is plenty of reason to question the legitimacy of tear gas usage in virtually any context. PHR medical investigators noted in a report published the AMA\u2019s journal in 1989 that:<\/p>\n

\u201c[T]he evidence already assembled regarding the pattern of use of tear gas, as well as its toxicology, raises the question of whether its further use can be condoned under any circumstances\u2026 [T]here is an important role for the independent [health] professional: to study, document, analyze, and report on such hazards and to advise government on what does and does not carry an acceptable risk. If a weapon is found to present too serious a risk, it is then the responsibility of those in charge of public safety to decide on alternatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Note the \u2018pattern of use\u2019 analysis from even the late \u201880s. When is \u2018tear gas\u2019 used in an appropriate and proportionate manner? Can a protestor or bystander among us think of an instance? International law permits its use under the category of \u2018riot control\u2019. Thus, it is properly deployed to disperse \u2018riots\u2019, not nonviolent gatherings, and not some scattered projectile throwing and minor property destruction.<\/p>\n

The very label \u2018tear gas\u2019 is a euphemism which obscures that its use on humans: \u201cposes serious health risks and even causes death.\u201d The proper term for \u2018tear gas\u2019 is \u2018toxic chemical agent\u2019 as PHR employs. As PHR notes, \u201c\u201cTear gas,\u201d implying that these chemical agents merely cause tearing, is a misnomer.\u201c<\/p>\n

Perhaps the roots of the crowd control method should give us pause. The origin of tear gas derives from chemical weapons that became so infamous in WW1.<\/p>\n

Lest anyone continue to regard \u2018tear gas\u2019 as a mere inconvenience, it has also been implicated as a carcinogen, and may even damage DNA, thus impacting one\u2019s future children and family lineage.
\n…more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Bahrain finds an off-label use for tear gas as chemical warfare. Bahrain: the Tear Gas Regime By Steve Fake, August 9, 2012 Physicians for Human Rights just released a report on the Bahraini government\u2019s pervasive use of tear gas to repress its restive civilian population. Bahrain has raised the global bar on the usage of more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[2763],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11636"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11636"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11637,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11636\/revisions\/11637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}