X-From_: ken at brasscheck.com Tue Dec 7 20:14:47 1999 Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Sender: (Unverified) Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 21:02:19 -0500 To: Recipient List Suppressed: ; From: Brasscheck <ken at brasscheck.com> Subject: Neurotoxic agents used in Seattle gas attacks?
December 7, 1999
Neurotoxic agents used in Seattle gas attacks?
In addition to eye witness accounts that some Seattle "police" were armed with M-16s, some doctors are concerned that tear gas and pepper spray were not the only chemical agents used against demonstrators.
Perhaps the Special Forces "advisors" CNN reported being present in Seattle a more hands on approach than we know.
>Neurotoxic Symptoms In Chemical Warfare Casualties At
>Seattle WTO Meeting by kirk james murphy, MD
> <kmurphy at ucla.edu> 10:04am Tue Dec 7 '99
>
> Direct Action Network Medical Collective members
>provided first aid and other care for thousands of
>casualties of chemical warfare during the Seattle WTO
>protests. Collective members identified a subset of
>casualties with symptoms consistent with exposure to
>neurotoxins which disrupt acetylcholine irritant
>agents do not explain the symptoms.
>
> The Direct Action Network Medical
>Collective was organized to provide first aid and
>other health services to activists and others
>(onlookers, media, residents, and anyone else
>requesting assistance) in Seattle for the WTO meeting
>last week. The Collective members provided care for
>literally hundreds of chemical warfare casualties on
>both November 30 and December 1; hundreds more have
>requested information and treatment in subsequent
>days. As one may imagine, Collective members have
>acquired extensive expertise in the recognition and
>treatment of symptoms arising from exposure to pepper
>spray (OC) and "tear gases" (CS and CN).
>
> Individuals exposed to chemical weapons in
>the late afternoon and evening of December
>1st at two locations downtown blocks adjacent to Pike
>Place Market and the Seattle neighborhood of Capitol
>Hill evinced and reported a pattern of symptoms
>which is inconsistent with the pattern of symptoms
>which may be ascribed to irritating agents. This
>"atypical" pattern of symptoms includes the rapid
>onset of:
>
> mydriasis (pupillary dilation) with
>resultant impairment of visual acuity;
>
> tachycardia (rapid heart rate) with some
>palpitations;
>
> new-onset hypertension (high blood
>pressure) in one individual;
>
> nausea, vomiting, diarrhea (persisting for
>days after exposure);
>
> abrupt or immediate onset of menstruation
>(asynchronous with usual menstrual
> cycle);
>
> muscular fasciculation (twitches);
>
> muscular dyscoordination;
>
> lethargy, confusion, disorientation,
>diminished concentration, nocturnal
> hallucinations.
> Moreover, some casualties reported an abrupt
>experience of loss of muscular tone and strength
>that sometimes (but not always) immediately preceded a
>loss of consciousness; one observer of these
>affected individuals reported uncontrolled, spasmodic
>movements in those affected.
>
> Some individuals exposed in the Pike Place Market
>area reported that the aforementioned symptoms came
>immediately after exposure to a non-irritating agent
>which was did not cause pain, lacrimation, or burning
>on mucous membranes.
>
> At least one individual complaining of
>fasciculations and cognitive impairment days after
>exposure reported resolution of both symptoms for a
>duration of approximately five to six hours within
>twenty to thirty minutes after treatment with 10 mg of
>the specific antidote dicyclomine (Bentyl) - an
>anticholinergic medication which crosses the
>blood-brain barrier and hence can relieve central
>nervous symptoms of excessive cholinergic activity as
>well as relieving peripheral symptoms of the same
>etiology.
>
> The pattern of symptoms is not consistent
>with known mechanisms of action of the irritant
>chemical weapons OC, CS, or CN. The pattern, however,
>is consistent with disruption of neurotransmitter
>activity. Lamentably, the single most compelling
>explanation for the observed findings is the
>(deliberate or accidental) inclusion of
>"incapacitating agents" which disrupt neuronal
>function in the chemical munitions discharged by law
>enforcement agencies in Seattle during the WTO
>protest.
>
> While direct cholinergic effects or indirect
>(inhibition of acetylcholinesterase) effects arising
>from synergistic combinations (of OC, CS, and CN)
>cannot be ruled out at this time, the experience and
>observations Medical Collective members, together
>with the aforementioned information, appears to most
>robustly support the hypothesis that the casualties
>described above resulted from exposure to
>cholinesterase inhibitors used as chemical
>weapons in crowd control.
>
> The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported on December 4
>that the Seattle Police Department had to replenish
>its chemical weapons stocks by going to outside
>sources. Various individuals have reported being told
>by individual law enforcement officers that chemical
>weapons in addition to OC, CS, and CN were deployed
>by various entities; these anecdotal accounts are not
>yet confirmed.
>
> Any information regarding the use of chemical
>munitions in addition to OC, CS or CN, as well as
>information regarding the discharge of chemical
>weapons by agencies other than the Seattle Police
>Department would be helpful.
>
> Available Internet information from
>presumably authoritative (eg, DOD) sources describes
>"nerve gases" as lethal agents. While the casualties
>described above - fortunately - have not included
>fatalities, the apparent pattern of excessive
>cholinergic activity and the fact that
>"incapacitating agents" is the term of art for a
>subset of chemical weapons used in crowd control
>suggests that the term "nerve gas" may be a
>suboptimal descriptive term. "Incapacitating agents"
>or "neurotoxic agents" may be more precise ways of
>describing chemical munitions with the effects
>described above.
>
> If you were exposed to chemical weapons during the
>WTO protests and have the pattern of "atypical"
>symptoms discussed below, please make a written,
>signed, and dated account of your exposure, including
>details such as the (approximate) location in which
>you were exposed and the date and part of the day
>(morning, midday, afternoon, evening) of your
>exposure, as well as the nature of your symptoms.
>Please send such accounts to the email above and to
>the ACLU unit investigating law enforcement actions
>in Seattle during the WTO protests.
>
> Collection of discharged chemical weapons munitions
>is proceeding apace at this time. Collection of serum
>samples from affected individuals will probably be
>organized over the next 48 hours. Assay of garments
>(and other materials) exposed to the chemical
>warfare agents on individuals demonstrating the
>aforementioned pattern of symptoms is also
>contemplated. If you have canisters or other chemical
>munitions containers discharged during the WTO
>protest, please contact the above email address for
>information about how to forward these containers for
>chemical analysis
> [NOTE: Canisters of "CS" or "CN" (tear gas) or "OC"
>(Oleoresin Capsaiscum) are not needed - we know they
>were used. The containers to be sent for chemical
>analysis would only be those without the above
>markings or those with markings consistent with the
>use of other agents.]
>
> Your comments are invited and desired. Obviously,
>the escalation of chemical weapons used in "crowd
>control" to include even non-lethal neurotoxins is an
> exceedingly grave prospect: the qualitative leap from
>irritant agents (OC, CS, CN) to agents which disrupt
> neuronal function is truly an appalling prospect.
>This communication is intended to ensure the fullest
>possible discussion and consideration of the events
>and mechanisms described above.
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