Pepper spray has some health implications, despite it being 'less lethal' method for crowd control

The Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign hit Phoenix this week when masked, camouflaged U.S. Department of Homeland Security agents descended on more than a dozen locations of Zipps Sports Grill. DHS announced Wednesday that 35 people were arrested in the raids — all suspected of being in the country illegally.

Agents were met by protesters at many of the sports bars across the Valley as news spread about what was going on. And some of those protesters were pepper sprayed. One video that’s gotten a lot of attention shows agents driving by in a truck pepper spraying the crowd out the window as they drive away. Protesters at other locations said they were pepper sprayed as well — including two state lawmakers.

In videos and images that are defining these protests, agents can be seen spraying crowds often including spraying them directly in the face at close range.

But, while pepper spray is called a "less lethal" method for crowd control — it’s not harmless. The Show is joined now by Dr. Frank LoVecchio, medical director at ASU’s College of Health Solutions who specializes in toxicology to tell us more about the health implications of these kinds of chemical irritants.

Full conversation

LAUREN GILGER: Good morning, Dr LoVecchio. Thanks for coming on.

DR. FRANK LOVECCHIO: Good morning. Thanks for having me.

GILGER: So begin for us with just a little definition, like, what exactly is pepper spray? What's in these canisters that we're seeing agents spray at protesters?

LOVECCHIO: Well, the medical name for it, we call it OC, and it does have, it is extracted from pepper. So it's very much like an irritant, like if you ate, you know, hot peppers, and when the pepper chemical hits your eyes, it causes a really severe, you know, inability to open your eyes. It also is an irritant to your lungs. It'll cause coughing, choking, chest tightness. The people who get in trouble are the people who have underlying medical illness, such as asthmatics, people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or heart disease, especially if they're in a confined area.

GILGER: So I know you've treated patients with pepper spray exposure. Tell us you know, what do they look like? What do they say? What happens to you, kind of initially?

LOVECCHIO: Well, the great majority of people are on the scene, and then they get irrigated a little bit, or even nothing, and it's usually over within an hour, but there are people that come into the emergency department, and many times, by the time they hit the emergency department, within an hour or so, they're better, but there's a small percentage of people who are asthmatic or have heart disease, and they go into and have respiratory issues. They might have an acute asthma attack.

The good thing is that deaths are extremely rare, but they do exist, and if you look back on you know, the Justice Department has done studies, and a couple years ago, they documented about 50 deaths or so from the use of pepper spray. To put it in perspective, though, it's estimated that Phoenix police use pepper spray about 800 times per year, and we have had no deaths that are documented from pepper spray.

GILGER: So rare, but it can happen that there are long term health implications and deaths for certain people it sounds like.

LOVECCHIO: Yes, absolutely. I think sometimes it hits people in the eyes, that's the other thing, and it causes something called the corneal abrasion, or corneal ulcer, which can lead to, you know, temporary vision issues.

GILGER: Let me ask you about that, because we are seeing pictures that are getting a good amount of chatter online about ICE agents or border patrol agents at these protests spraying people at really close range with pepper spray, like right into their faces. What would that do to someone?

LOVECCHIO: Well, that would cause more of the effect that I guess the pepper spray is meant for it would cause more irritation than if you get it right in your eyes, many times, it causes this ulceration. If you think of the cornea as like a windshield, it's like they took a chip of your windshield off. Now that usually heals with time, but you know, oftentimes it can lead to people having problems with their vision. Many times, that's short term, but unfortunately, it could lead to a problem.

The other thing that we see, unfortunately, is panic, hyperventilation, people collapsing, you know, traumatic injuries, you're like you got pepper sprayed in the face. Why did you fall and break your ankle? Well, I was running away. And sadly, that's, you know, pretty common.

GILGER: Let me ask you also about the use of tear gas. Is this kind of similar? Is it a different kind of chemical irritant?

LOVECCHIO: Tear gas is a different chemical and the chemical name is very long. I would say that, you know, we throw it into a concentration of rye control we call it. The most common one used is something called CN, and that also is meant to incapacitate. It causes intense irritation.

It's certainly not harmless. It causes some of the same things that pepper spray can cause, such as exacerbation of asthma, heart disease, COPD, but it causes people to cough a lot, cry a lot, burning in their eyes, the redness, and they just want to get out of there. So that's the purpose of it.

GILGER: Right. And it, you know, is used in that way, or supposed to be used in that way. I wonder, given these kinds of health risks with the use of pepper spray or tear gas, what do you make of this kind of deployment of these tactics. We're seeing quite a bit at these protests by ICE across the country.

LOVECCHIO: Trying not to get political, and also trying to give a balanced sort of attack, you know, I work as an emergency physician also, and the first step, of course, is de-escalation. You know, you talk to the patient, talk to the rider, and say "Hey, it'd be really nice if you didn't do X, Y and Z." In my case, I'd say it'd be really nice we can start an IV and check some blood work and treat you here.

But unfortunately, many times it doesn't work, and we have to go towards chemical restraints. What we do is, many times, give medication. Sometimes it's a drug like Valium, to calm people down. And, you know, at the end of the day, you know, it'd be great if we never had to use this again. But unfortunately, sometimes verbal de-escalation doesn't work. You know, trying to talk people down.

GILGER: So is there advice or or, I guess, anything someone could do if they're planning on protesting might be in a place where they might be faced with these kinds of chemical irritants, pepper spray, things like that?

LOVECCHIO: In an ideal world, you'd say we didn't have to protest at all. But, you know, you have a right to protest, etc. I would say, if you have any of those diseases, the asthma or COPD, you know, I recommend, you know, staying in the back, staying away, trying to bring a mask if you could.

If you notice when they throw tear gas, many times, the officers are wearing masks. They're wearing those big kinds of World War II masks. So that would be an approach. The other thing that we have to do, pretty quickly, ideally, is to clean them out. And water works well, but, you know, soap and water works much better. You know, you don't want to get soap in your eyes. But also, if you do have asthma, you know to kind of bring your inhaler, etc., anything else, OK, if you do protest, wear goggles, etc.