Chemical warfare in Victoria

By Geoff Spencer MELBOURNE — In the wake of two fatal shootings in mid-November — putting the number of people killed by Victorian police at 12 since January 1994 — the police force is moving to speed up the introduction of oleoresin capsicum (OC) gas. The gas is touted as a non-lethal substitute for the use of firearms. Concern expressed by community groups over the safety of the gas have been ignored. According to the Victorian Federation of Community Legal Centres (FCLC), the police have yet "to release for public consideration the documentation they say they possess which supposedly proves that the spray is safe". Prior to the recent fatalities, the FCLC had released a US Army report on OC gas which "has not been previously referred to by police or any other supporters of the introduction of the spray". Completed by the US Army's Edgewood Research, Development and Engineering Centre in August, the Capsaicin Toxicology Review concludes that there "is a risk in using this product on a large and varied population". The report documents the wide variety of adverse effects of capsaicin, the principal ingredient of OC gas, including "mutagenic and carcinogenic effects, sensitisation, neuro-toxicity, and cardiovascular and pulmonary toxicity". It also refers to 14 deaths in US police custody following use of the OC gas. While there are moves to hasten the introduction of the gas, the only unit with operational experience, the elite Special Operations Group, has been ordered to suspend its' use. However, it appears that this measure is only temporary, pending the proposed distribution of OC to general duties police in Victoria in July 1996.