PSA: How to prevent permanent damage from Tear Gas or CS spray
WARNING:
If you have medical conditions such as asthma or any sort of respiratory disease, you might want to keep your inhaler/medication on hand.
NOTE:
CS spray and tear gas are the same thing. CS spray is just the technical shorthand (full name is 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile)
1) Get away from the gas.
2) Eyes: Rinse with clean water for at least 15 minutes. Remove contacts and DO NOT REUSE, wash glasses with soap and water
3) Breathing: Take deep breaths. Blow snot rockets as follows:
- Hold your index finger to the side of your nose a push one nostril shut.
- Lean your body to the side of your nose that’s open.
- Deep breath in.
- Close your mouth and forcefully blow out your nose.
- Repeat on the other side.
4) Rinse your mouth, preferably with milk or antacid. DO NOT SWALLOW!!!
5) Clothing: remove any clothing covered in CS
- Avoid removing clothing or jewellery over your head, cut it off if possible
- Wash your body with soap and cool water (Warm water dilates pores so the gas will get deeper in and burn more) for about 20 minutes
6) Cleaning:
- Wash contaminated clothing separately from the rest of your laundry.
- Clean any jewellery with soap and water.
- DO NOT use any detergent containing Chlorine Bleach (Chlorine bleach and CS gas can form Chlorine dioxide, a highly dangerous neurotoxin.)
If you follow all of these steps, the worst will be over in half an hour.
