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| CS is named after its inventors Corson and Stoughton, who synthesized this compound in 1928. A white solid, CS is delivered either in the form of a fine powder (CS1, CS2) or as thermal fog, and is currently the most commonly used riot control agent (RCA) by police agencies around the world. CS is extremely irritating to the eyes, throat, and upper respiratory tree. Like CN, CS can be deadly if used in confined spaces. The US military employed CS agent to a great extent during the Vietnam War, serving as a means to suppress enemy fire during search and rescue operations, as well as driving out Viet Cong combatants from underground tunnels. Allegations made in 1998 that sarin nerve agent was used during the Vietnam War in Operation Tailwind (a story that has since been discredited) were no doubt conflated with the use of CS in the field by the US Army.
Although the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) prohibits the use of compounds like CS as a means of warfare, the United States has retained the doctrine of using CS under special circumstances, such as rescue operations and civilian crowd control in foreign military operations. There is currently no law or treaty prohibiting the use of CS as a means of controlling or dispersing unruly mobs.
The harassing effects of CS are reached at lower concentrations than CN, at 4mg-min/m3 (versus 10 mg for CN). The median lethal concentration (LCt50) of CS is estimated at about 50-60 grams-min/m3, considerably less toxic than that of CN tear agent (about 7 grams). |
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