Community | November 21, 2011 | 45 comments

What is pepper spray? Here are some resources to understand more about this poison

source: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2011/11/21/about-pepper-spray/

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attilatheblond
"One hundred years ago, an American pharmacist named Wilbur Scoville developed a scale to measure the intensity of a pepper’s burn. The scale – as you can see on the widely used chart to the left – puts sweet bell peppers at the zero mark and the blistering habanero at up to 350,000 Scoville Units.

I checked the Scoville Scale for something else yesterday. I was looking for a way to measure the intensity of pepper spray, the kind that police have been using on Occupy protestors including this week’s shocking incident involving peacefully protesting students at the University of California-Davis.

As the chart makes clear, commercial grade pepper spray leaves even the most painful of natural peppers (the Himalayan ghost pepper) far behind. It’s listed at between 2 million and 5.3 million Scoville units. The lower number refers to the kind of pepper spray that you and I might be able to purchase for self-protective uses. And the higher number? It’s the kind of spray that police use, the super-high dose given in the orange-colored spray used at UC-Davis.


..."

"Health Hazards of Pepper Spray"

C. Gregory Smith, MD, MPH, and Woodhall Stopford, MD, MSPH

http://web.archive.org/web/20000817004624/http:/www.ncmedicaljournal.com/Smith-O...
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45 comments // What is pepper spray? Here are some resources to understand more about this poison

  • mitekillem
  • alexsmith01
  • attilatheblond
  • PigFarmington
  • attilatheblond
    • 0
      attilatheblond  
    • PigFarmington:

      And what were they protecting against? Those protesters were not threatening anything but the propaganda and hypnotic spell too many of the 99% have been under for too long.

      They got hosed with caustic chemicals to dissuade others from joining the effort to get people to THINK

    • 6 months ago
  • Leen61
  • Leen61
    • +1
      Leen61  

    • For now it's pepper spray. Last night, Rachel Maddow mentioned other devices the cops could be using at a peaceful, Occupy movement near you.

    • 6 months ago
  • nashkildare
  • attilatheblond
  • figgdimension
  • attilatheblond
    • 0
      attilatheblond  
    • figgdimension:

      Yep.

      More and more schools have banned peanuts and peanut butter in lunches brought from home to protect the rare child with a peanut allergy.

      But same kids can go to college campuses and be hosed down with something that triggers very adverse reactions in some for just having an opinion and expressing it. Oh, yeah, and they or their parents get to pay the institutions dearly for the privilege of being put at risk.

    • 6 months ago
  • figgdimension
    • +1
      figgdimension  

    • At Seattle during the 99 wto protest they used a more ddt like agent that is known to cause cancer and birth defects made by our dear friends at MONSANTOS i doubt its changed much thats no normal pepper spray thats military pepper spray and it causes not pepper burns but CHEMICAL BURNS can cause breathing problems swelling of tongue and throat also death by suffocation research it ...

    • 6 months ago
  • Toughth
    • 0
      Toughth  

    • As a nation we are entering a new and uncharted idea that everyone be treated the same under the law. We have seen this type of thugery befor. The pullman stike of 1893 comes to mind and the coal feild battles in the early part of the 20th century. Any time the people want to have some form of fairness in thier lives the elitists say that the people are taking food off their table, Even though their table is groaning under the weight. The upper 1% have forgoten that they need us more than we need them.

    • 6 months ago
  • ThirdSection
  • attilatheblond
    • +1
      attilatheblond  
    • ThirdSection:

      Then they would be shot with live rounds. That is just what TPTB are hoping for, finally inciting people to act in self defense so they can be accused of attacking.

      Might be time to occupy some police administrators' neighborhoods though.

    • 6 months ago
  • Varex_Sythe
    • +1
      Varex_Sythe  
    • ThirdSection:

      This actually brings up an interesting thought...

      What do people think would happen if protestors got commercial pepper spray and sprayed the cops who are spraying protesters with police grade with commercial grade?

      Seriously, what do people think would happen?

    • 6 months ago
  • jubal
    • +2
      jubal  

    • This pepper spray should be declared unconstitutional....on the basis of cruel and inhumane punishments....and these are used as a means to level the aspirations of people who are politically motivated to act. This is political violence of the worst sort.

    • 6 months ago
  • attilatheblond
    • +2
      attilatheblond  
    • jubal:

      The Constitution is not in force.

      Elected officials take an oath to uphold it, then most spend their time subverting it.

      Many law enforcement administrators, likewise.

      Not much of a point. If we can't get an amendment re only people, not corporations, are people, the pepper spray corporations want used against people isn't going to get any mention in the Constitution.

    • 6 months ago
  • Dusty_King
    • +2
      Dusty_King  

    • Thanks for the chart, whenever you see the orange pepper spray you know it's 100X's more potent than an Habanero Pepper. That pepper can eat into your skin, imagine the PIGS using Agent Orange Spray?

    • 6 months ago
  • Leen61
  • attilatheblond
  • Leen61
  • infiniteblackbox
    • +3
      infiniteblackbox  

    • This may be TMI but i have to tell this story to put in perspective the heat of a pepper. (scoville rating)
      When I was married I used to love to cook. I went thru a stage where I used jalapenos in my recipes.
      When you cook them down they are not so bad.
      Anyway one evening i was preparing a meal and had just finished dicing several jalapenos.
      My wife came home early and since the kids were not home we decided to have some sexy time.
      I washed my hands thoroughly.
      As foreplay commenced I noticed her normal moans were becoming oddly intense until finally she screamed out and ran to the shower.
      When I realized what the problem was i rushed into the bathroom and tried to stop her b4 she applied water to her lady parts, knowing water would only exasperate the problem.
      We ended up in the ER.
      The Dr. told me next time to use milk instead of water.

      hand to god a true story

    • 6 months ago
  • attilatheblond
    • +4
      attilatheblond  
    • infiniteblackbox:

      I believe you. A gentleman friend wanted to entice a lover of spicy foods in a similar, but gender swapped manner. No trip to the ER, but all the yogurt in the house was used up and that aloe plant never recovered from the assault.

    • 6 months ago
  • infiniteblackbox
  • bailey78
  • infiniteblackbox
  • mhaarts
    • 0
      mhaarts  
    • infiniteblackbox:

      wow, did you see the cop at the end shaking the two pepper spray cans? and what good does it do to point paint ball guns, or whatever kind of gun that is in an UNARMED crowd!??? what the hell!? This is so pathetic.

    • 6 months ago
  • Wyley_Wombat
    • +1
      Wyley_Wombat  

    • I used to use an extract of cayenne peppers mixed with detergent and water as a spray on the rose bushes. It worked well for Japanese Beetles, if they got sprayed directly with it, they died and they would not eat the leaves the spray had dried on. I can say from experience, you did not want to be downwind of the spray. And cayenne's rank way lower on the Scoville scale than does commercial pepper spray

    • 6 months ago
  • percipi224
  • percipi224
    • +1
      percipi224  

    • i am allergic to peppers. just peeling mild pablanos after they are roasted shut my throat down and caused me to start coughing. It isn't awful, just a nuisance, cause I love them, but the pepper spray would probably kill me.

    • 6 months ago
  • maasanova
  • attilatheblond
  • squarethecircle
  • attilatheblond
  • squarethecircle
  • KB723
  • attilatheblond
  • chew_chew
  • chew_chew
  • letsliveinpeace
    • +1
      letsliveinpeace  

    • Gret post!
      Pepper spray is very dangerous it effects the respiratory system, it can cause respiratory failure, it can cause blindness, and it can cause your pressure to rise possible heart attack, enough.

    • 6 months ago
  • nikonwilly
    • +4
      nikonwilly  

    • Corporate run Government and their elite masters have planned all along for the time when the citizens would wake up to their fraud and corruption....with a militarized police force and their Patriot Act in place they believe they are insulated from any and all forms of justice.
      This corrupt form of Government has destroyed so many true, people led democracies that it will be interesting to see how they try and crush this democratic movement.

    • 6 months ago
  • bailey78
  • attilatheblond
  • Hardytoo
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