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Tear Gas antidotes

by D. Boyer
Tear gas antidotes. All medics on the front lines of the protests should carry a few bottles of tear gas antidotes.
"Because tear gas is not actually a gas but a very fine acid powder, its effectiveness can be easily mitigated by any over the counter anti acid drug commonly available at drugstores or pharmacy without prescription, like sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), Maalox or Alka-Seltzer to name a few."
TEAR GAS ANTIDOTE RECIPES

Neutralizer #1 - Spray or squirt bottle of water with 1-2 Tablespoons of Baking Soda.

Neutralizer #2- Spray or squirt bottle of water with 2 parts water, 1 part liquid maalox (milk of gagnesia).

Neutralizer #1 is recommended by the military books themselves, A1 6 medical collective, Seattle MASH, and the Black Cross Medical Collective Training.

***If you are asthmatic tell the people around you before the action starts, so that if when sprayed you have a bad reaction they'll be able to act appropriately by giving you your medication or getting a doctor. {Asthmatics should bring their bronchodilators.}

WHAT TO DO WHEN SPRAYED

- If you are in the line of spray move backwards out of range rather than sideways where the spray may still be able to reach you. If you are in a building move outside. Your eyesight may become blurred and it is easy to lose awareness of what is going on. Do not run blindly into the arms of the police, or worse still, into traffic. Act calmly and stay aware of your surroundings whilst moving to a safe area.

- If possible stand upwind of where the spraying happened and expose the affected part of your body to the wind. This will help disperse the gas quickly. Take deep breaths of fresh air.

- Flush the affected skin with the solution mentioned earlier or just water. Do not touch it as you will spread the chemical around and rub it into your pores. It may be possible that you can rejoin the action right away, as small amounts should only affect you for a few minutes.

- Ordinarily the eye effects are self limiting and require no treatment. Do not rub your eyes. Remove contact lenses if present. If necessary, flush eyes with solution, water or normal saline solution for 20 to 30 minutes. Patients suffering from temporary blindness should be reassured; permanent blindness from exposure to vapor has never been observed even at very high concentrations.
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