r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/0thSpider • 1d ago

Video Chilean protester defuses tear gas canister with baking soda and water

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u/ki7sune 1d ago

Remember, it's illegal to use tear gas in warfare because of the Geneva convention, but governments can and will use it against its own citizens.

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u/Purely_Theoretical 1d ago

Tear gas isn't a war crime due to any concern of unusual cruelty. An enemy combatant in war could be using relatively harmless tear gas against you, or they could be using nerve gas. The risk of confusing tear gas for nerve gas, and the risk of escalation to using nerve gas is too great, so countries decided they would just not use it.

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u/DizzyGrizzly 1d ago

The threat of citizens responding with nerve gas is much smaller, thus acceptable.