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Is it legal for police officers to use tear gas on protesters? We break down when the chemical irritant can and can't be used.

For days, people across the nation have marched to protest the killing of George Floyd, a black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyds neck.

Police forces have responded to these protests with tear gas and other anti-riot measures. Protesters have posted countless photos and videos to social media showing police firing the chemical gas during the demonstrations.

The most common types of chemicals used in these agents today are chloroacetophenone and 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, according to the CDC. Usually, these chemical compounds cause a burning sensation in the eyes, nose and on the skin. Long-lasting exposure or large doses could cause blindness, respiratory failure or death, the CDC says.

Some posts claim tear gas is illegal to use in warfare - so why can police use it against civilians?

So the VERIFY team researched the rules behind tear gas.

THE QUESTION

Is the usage of tear gas a war crime?

THE ANSWER

But law enforcement can still legally use it for riot control purposes. In fact, the same agreement that banned and criminalized tear gas in warfare also specifically allowed for its use by law enforcement.

WHAT WE FOUND

The general use of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases was prohibited by the Geneva Protocol of 1925, shortly after WWI. The text of the protocol was short and did not specify beyond that what gases were banned.

The United States Senate, according to the State Department, did not ratify the treaty at the time. In fact, the United States continued to use tear gas and chemical herbicides in the Vietnam War, arguing that such chemicals were not covered by the Geneva Protocol. But other countries, especially those in the Soviet bloc, argued that the use of tear gas was prohibited by the Geneva Protocol.

A Swedish ambassador at the time argued there was a danger of escalation if nonlethal chemical agents were permitted but also pointed out that the military use of tear gases should be distinguished from their use for riot control, the State Department says.

A broader interpretation of the Geneva Protocol was then adopted and the United States eventually ratified it -- with a few riot-control exceptions -- in 1975.

In 1992, the United Nations held a convention on chemical weaponscalled the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction.

During this meeting, the organization developed a second treaty that was similar to the first, but more explicit in its guidance. The updated agreement prohibited members from using "riot control agents as a method of warfare."

That convention explicitly defined riot control gases as chemicals "which can produce rapidly in humans sensory irritation or disabling physical effects which disappear within a short time following termination of exposure," to avoid the debate that occurred following the Geneva Protocol.

But the issue provoked debate among member states. Jamil Dakwar, a representative from the ACLU, said in an interview with PRI said there was pressure to ban chemical weapons in the leadup to the Chemical Weapons Convention. He said many countries argued they would resort to more lethal methods to control their own citizens if law enforcement could not use these chemicals.

So as a compromise, the agreement again allowed an exception for the use of these chemicals for domestic riot control purposes.

Our expert also explained some of the risks involved when using these chemicals during wartime.

Richard Price, a political science professor at the University of British Columbia and the author of The Chemical Weapons Taboo, told VERIFY in an email that soldiers dont have the luxury of determining if gasses shot at them are tear gases or much more lethal chemical weapons like chlorine, mustard or what have you."

He said any gases on the frontlines could expose a country to false accusations of using illegal chemicals. Such claims could escalate the conflict further.

"The best thing to avoid potentially false accusations of prohibited lethal chemical use (that then spirals to more general use in retaliation) was to just ban them all in the context of battle.

He also explained that the Chemical Weapons Convention decided on the term "riot control" gases rather than non-lethal gases because they can kill, if in sufficient dosage and concentration, such as in a confined area, but that is very rare since they are usually used outdoors, but thats one reason why the CWC doesnt differentiate these as lethal/non-lethal gases, but rather define according to the purpose (riot control).

BOTTOM LINE

Yes, tear gas is banned for use in war. However, the same international provisions that ban it also allow law enforcement to use it domestically.

Its also incorrect to say tear gas is non-lethal. It can be lethal in confined areas, which is one reason its banned in war. Its very rarely lethal when used outdoors.

Though many countries use these chemicals for riot control purposes, their use remains controversial.

See the rest here:
VERIFY: Tear gas is banned from war, but not banned for use by law enforcement internationally - WUSA9.com

Every Saturday this month we will feature some of the best articles by young people from our SOUK workshops on Political and Media Literacy. Todays thought-provoking article is by Charlotte Mitchell.

We are facing a mental health crisis. This problem is all the worse for young people, with UK charity Young Minds reporting that less than 1 in 3 young people receive NHS support. The question then that must be asked, is how these alarming statistics have come to be?

Young people are more likely than any other demographic to be on social media and engaging with pop culture. They are also likely to see the hateful comments which are often directed at celebrities and other public figures. We are living in an age where tabloids, as well as broadsheet newspapers, are reporting in an increasingly personal and invasive way. Undoubtedly, public figures are under immense pressure, and are being held to higher standards of scrutiny than ever before. Regrettably, it seems that less and less consideration is given to the wellbeing of an articles subject. Those rose-tinted glasses which made us think that celebrities are invulnerable and unfeeling gods have shattered after one particular incident.

In January 2020, after a months long stream of negative reporting over the alleged assault against then-boyfriend Lewis Burton, ex Love Island host Caroline Flack tragically took her own life. I will not admit for a second that I condone the way Ms Flack treated Burton. Domestic violence against men is a woefully underreported crime, with men three times less likely to report than women. However, this person should never have been pushed into a position where she felt she could not bear to live.

At the time of her death, most of the press blamed the media for their insensitive reporting of Ms Flack. Of course, many factors were at play here, but the reporting style of the tabloids must be acknowledged. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer commented that some stories amplified damaging posts on social media, with many articles including personal attacks. The Mirror, for instance, described Ms Flacks situation as a fall from grace, despite her stunning body.

Caroline Flack had amassed a large online following during her life, much of which was made up of teenagers and young adults. How must these impressionable people have felt when they read such cruel and frankly objectifying comments about someones appearance? This is arguably something which could trigger an unhealthy relationship in a young person with their own body, especially given Flacks affiliation with Love Island, a reality TV show grounded on the premise of external beauty as that which determines your chances of finding happy ever after.

The Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service, CAMHS, gets less than 1 per cent of the total NHS budget. This, despite suicide being the third leading cause of death in 15-19-year-olds and with anorexia nervosa having the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder in adolescents. It is on this note that you begin to wonder what must be done.

May 18th through to the 24th was International Mental Health Awareness week, with charities everywhere doing what they could to raise the profile of mental health and reduce the surrounding stigma. During that week I read many articles which discussed the various causes of mental health problems, particularly in teenagers. While you cannot trace all mental health struggles back to a single root cause, I do feel that the media have certainly contributed to the individual struggles of many. I am 16, and I have seen far too many of my friends struggle with their body image and their relationship with food. In my view, seeing celebrities subjected to very high standards in terms of how they should look, has only made matters worse for them. Many, I suspect, feel that they too should meet this daunting idea of perfection.

It is always easy to say that anyone who is struggling with such issues should simply switch off unplug themselves from social media. But should the burden of responsibility fall on those most vulnerable in our society? Or, could it be argued that it is the job of the media to stop holding celebrities to such cruel and unrealistic standards?

In an NTA-winning BBC documentary titled Odd One Out, Little Mix member Jesy Nelson recalls a period of her life where she would actively seek out hate online, which saw her being described as the fat one in Little Mix. She was barely 20 when a competitor on The X Factor and already the pressure was mounting. Though she is now much happier and far less troubled by online hate, she vividly describes a time that was so dark it pushed her to attempt to end her life.

This hate must stop. But will the government intervene to help control the press, or will this be confined to the realm of free speech expected in a democracy? In an article for The Guardian, journalist Roy Greenslade argued that papers will justify their exposure of celeb secrets by insisting that they enjoy the rewards of marketing false images.

It is unfortunately true that no government will want to go after the media for fear of unfavourable coverage. To me, the governments priorities are clear. Support from the papers is more important than civilian wellbeing.

I, for one, refuse to settle for a world where 81 per cent of 10-year-olds are afraid of being fat. We must be better. Do better. Work harder to change the narrative not just for ourselves, but for everybody; including celebrities. No human being deserves to feel inadequate about themselves.

By Charlotte Mitchell

Read more from the original source:
Celebrities and the Media: An unhealthy relationship - Shout Out UK

LOGO: PPMA/NPMA

Its time for pest management professionals (PMPs) to participate in Bed Bug Awareness Week, taking place this year June 7-13. The annual education campaign is promoted by the Professional Pest Management Alliance (PPMA), which serves as the public outreach arm of theNational Pest Management Association (NPMA).

Bed Bug Awareness Week is recognized by Chases Calendar of Events and is celebrated throughout the pest management industry. Through various media relations and social media strategies, PPMA will work to educate the public on the need for diligent bed bug prevention, the signs of an infestation and the importance of working with a licensed PMPs to mitigate infestations.

With all of the excitement the prospect of summer travel brings in response to stay-at-home restrictions being slowly lifted nationwide, its easy to forget that bed bugs are still very much a threat, said Cindy Mannes, executive director of PPMA. Its a common misconception that bed bugs simply disappear without human hosts, as theyre actually able to survive for several months while waiting for their next meal. Bed bug populations that were established in hotels before the COVID-19 crisis impacted occupancy rates may in fact be hungrier than ever, posing an increased threat to unsuspecting travelers.

With more than six million online conversations in the U.S. on the topic of finding bed bugs in April 2020 alone a 70 percent increase from April 2019 PPMA is urging PMPs to get involved by taking advantage of the custom marketing materials made available by the association.

PPMA encourages PMPs and industry members to join the cause by launching media relations campaigns, including devoting their company social media pages to bed bugs throughout the week and using the hashtag #BedBugWeek on Facebook, Twitterand Pinterest.

To aid our partners who have supported our industrys initiatives by investing in PPMA, weve developed a robust Bed Bug Awareness Week toolkit to help promote their businesses and the importance of working with a pest control professional. We will also be unveiling a series of exclusive videos next week showing consumer audiences just how elusive and difficult to control these hitchhiking pests are, Mannes added.

The toolkit is available for download onPPMAMainframe.org, an exclusive digital marketing hub containing hundreds of custom, professionally designed marketing materials and assets PMPs can use to promote their businesses. The Bed Bug Awareness Week kit contains a customizable press release, suggested social media content, Bed Bug Awareness Week logos, high resolution photography, media training documents and a list of video content that can be directly embedded on a companys website.

Let us know what youre doing for#BedBugWeekon social media or email us atpmpeditor@northcoastmedia.net.

Continued here:
Participate in Bed Bug Awareness Week 2020 - Pest Management Professional magazine

To try to kill the novel coronavirus, some Americans are unsafely using disinfectants and cleaners, including washing food with bleach, using the products on bare skin, and inhaling and ingesting them, federal health officials reported Friday.

Health experts caution explicitly against using cleaning products in those ways.

The findings come from an online survey of 502 adults conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in May. Thirty-nine percent had misused the cleaning products, and one quarter reported an adverse health effect that they believed was a result of the products.

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Of the respondents, 19% said they had used bleach on food, 18% said they had applied household cleaners to their skin, 10% said they had misted themselves with disinfectant sprays, 6% had inhaled vapors from the cleaners, and 4% had drunk or gargled diluted bleach solutions, soapy water, or other disinfectants.

These practices pose a risk of severe tissue damage and corrosive injury and should be strictly avoided, the CDC researchers wrote in a paper, published in the agencys Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Although adverse health effects reported by respondents could not be attributed to their engaging in high-risk practices, the association between these high-risk practices and reported health effects indicates a need for public health messaging regarding safe and effective cleaning practices aimed at preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission in households. (SARS-CoV-2 is the formal name of the novel coronavirus.)

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The paper does not mention President Trumps public questioning at a press conference in April of whether an injection inside the body of a disinfectant could kill the virus. His remarks led poison control centers and manufacturers of cleaning products to reiterate that disinfectants and cleaners should not be ingested, inhaled, or injected. The president later claimed he was trying to prank reporters with his remarks.

The CDC survey set out to see if consumers knew how to safely store and use disinfectants at a time when health officials were urging regular cleanings of high-touch surfaces to combat the spread of the virus. It also came amid an increase in calls to poison control centers about exposures to cleaning products.

The survey showed that many people did not know how to safely use different cleaning products, even as most said they knew how to properly store and use them. About a quarter of respondents knew that only room temperature water should be mixed with bleach, and a third knew not to mix bleach with vinegar. More of the respondents about two thirds knew that eye protection and gloves were recommended when using certain cleaners.

The researchers pointed to several limitations of their report, including whether the respondents were representative of the country.

Excerpt from:
CDC: Some Americans are misusing bleach to try to kill coronavirus - STAT

Facebook has announced that its photo and video transfer tool, which enables users to copy their Facebook photos and videos over to Google Photos, is now available in all regions.

Facebook first announced the option back in December, with users in Ireland being the first to be able to shift their content across.Facebook then extended it to European, Asian and African regions in March, then the US and Canada in April. And now, all users, globally, can save their Facebook content to Google Photos.

The process is the first step in Facebook's expanded data portability approach, which will see it explore new ways to enable users to share their Facebook data, which many see as a means to better ingratiate itself with the FTC and weaken arguments of market dominance.

Last September, Facebook published a white paperwhich outlined the various considerations in building improved portability tools, including user privacy considerations,setting the table for a new approach to such process moving forward.

The Google Photos tool is the first step in this direction, and while Facebook still has a way to go in enabling full data portability, the transfer tool, in combination with its Download Your Information option(which it updated back in March) provides users with more ways to both understand what information Facebook had stored on them, and to transport that information to an alternate source.

The next step will be to enable the export your connections listings to other social networks, which could make it easier to establish networks on other platforms. Of course, that also necessitates those other users joining said platform, and assumes that you'll want to connect with the same people in other social apps, but providing the freedom to shift all of your information and content around could open up more competition, with Facebook holding less of an advantage in this respect.

But then again, with 3 billion active users across its apps, it's pretty safe to assume that Facebook will be able to maintain its dominance either way. Sure, having the capacity, and control, to decide where and how your information is used could soften Facebook's hold, most people are active on Facebook's apps because all of their friends are, because it's where everybody else is, and where everyone else logs in and checks for the latest updates.

Enabling users to port that info into new networks could make it easier for the latest trending apps to grow faster, but given Facebook's efforts to stifle competition, and its habitual position in the modern interactive process, it likely won't have a significant effect on such.

But maybe that's a pessimistic view - either way, Facebook giving users more control over their data is a good thing.

Follow this link:
Facebook's Photo and Video Transfer Tool is Now Available in All Regions - Social Media Today