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House Memo Shines Spotlight on Police Use of Tear Gas, a Chemical Banned in Wars

HeadlineOct 15, 2021

Fresh calls to ban police use of tear gas came Thursday after the House Oversight Committee released a memo noting the U.S. government does not regulate the chemical weapon and never found it to be safe for use on humans. In spite of this, law enforcement regularly deploys tear gas on civilians and did so in at least 100 U.S. cities in the first six months of 2020 alone. The memo also notes that tear gas is banned from use in war as a chemical weapon by international treaty. Missouri Congressmember Cori Bush said in a statement, “For protest to truly be a right, we must ensure that we are never again met with weapons of war on our streets.”

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