A report from the Bradford Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project highlights research activities as of 2005 in a variety of non-lethal technologies including tasers, millimeter wave systems that heat the skin, acoustic systems that cause ear pain or nausea, laser weapons intended to cause temporarily blindness, and biochemical “calmatives.” BNLWRP questions the legality and the ethics of non-lethal weapons development because many variables involved in their use could lead to lethal results. [The report contains much interesting material, but understand that the BNLWRP agenda is strongly against these systems, so the discussion is focused on why they are all bad.]
There is a discussion of the Russian use of the fentanyl derivative from the 2002 Moscow theater siege, and mention of a possibly successful use in October 2005 – I only deduce it was successful because of the lack of a media heyday publicizing deaths of civilians involved. However, Russian scientists who modeled the use of the “knockout gas” helped to provide a good argument to the anti-non-lethal weapons crowd when they concluded,
“If the level of 95% efficiency is absolutely required to neutralize terrorists and to prevent mass destruction, there is no chance to eliminate hard consequences and fatalities. Calculations show that the majority of hostages can get serious poisoning and part of them – fatality.”
Of particular concern, the paper highlights work on “biochemical incapacitiating weapons” by the Czech Republic military. Czech publications note that it is possible to “pharmacologically control” agressive individuals, but they also state this contradicts the CWC. Yet, apparently, they press on. They have done some human testing with midazolam, dexmedetomidine, ketamine, and a mixture of dexmedetomidine, midazolam and fentanyl. Their publication suggests inhalation or transdermal delivery, and suggest DMSO as an absorption aid.
In the meantime, BNLWRP targets the good ol’ U.S. of A, concerning an Edgewood project to develop a sponge projectile designed to deliver fentanyl analogue, as well as a couple of patents (also Edgewood) for a “rifle-launched non-lethal cargo dispenser” and an “airburst non-lethal munition.”
A prominent argument is that if law enforcement & riot control are exempted by the CWC, the military should not be involved in any “non-lethal” pharmacological developments, or their delivery methods. Really at issue is the fact that just like in the UN, it is the political will of the members that defines what activities are tolerated or not. The military in many countries is undoubtedly involved in all manner of research that could be argued to violate various international agreements, but in the world of reality there’s no enforcement. When it comes down to it, countries can just smile and sign agreements all day, then go and develop whatever they want for “defensive” or “law enforcement” purposes.
Other BNLWRP reports and publications here.
Tags: Bradford,Malcolm Dando,non-lethal weapons,biochemical weapons
Filed under: biological weapons, military
Hiya. Just posted some stuff about fentanyl gas and the Moscow theater hostage crisis, you may find it interesting:
http://vleeptron.blogspot.com/2006/06/i-want-new-drug-1-that-wont-make-me.html
You raise a very interesting point. If The Stuff is potent enough to work as a disabling knockout gas, it’s probably lethally strong, and nothing can be done to lessen the lethality.
Not exactly true. After the anti-terror squad used the fentanyl gas to storm the theater, the Russian government refused to identify the active agent in the gas, and only identified fentanyl weeks later because of diplomatic (certainly not media) pressure.
But fentanyl is an opioid. If the Moscow hospitals had been warned in advance, they could have known how to treat many of the victims and could even have been given time to accumulate sufficient stockpiles of the opioid antagonist Narcan — standard, common and highly effective treatment against opioid (usually heroin) overdoses.
As it was, the hospitals had to stand around wondering what the unconscious victims were dying of; treatment was useless, and those doctors who reached for Narcan in desperation didn’t have enough on hand to treat the sudden dozens of patients.
Have a good time on my blog and Leave A Comment if you can help illuminate this very interesting development in “non-lethal” police and military weaponry.
Right, most of the Moscow theater deaths were caused by inadequate medical countermeasures resulting from the military’s refusal to identify the agent.
The thing about most of these non-lethal weapons (not just the drugs but directed energy, etc.) is that they must be used in defined ways under defined or controlled conditions. As you can imagine, all that probably rarely comes together just right in real life, hence the question of how non-lethal are they?
Narcan’s a real miracle drug for opioid overdoses, and if they’d been forewarned, paramedics on site at the theater could have brought a lot of the victims back to life. Some of the wikipedia links about the theater siege lead to family sites filled with unbelievable anger against the Russian government over their secretiveness about the fentanyl gas.
One of the few things the embattled drug legalization governor of New Mexico — Gary Johnson, I think — managed to do was get the legislature to authorize police to carry and be trained to administer a syringe of Narcan when they encountered OD victims.
Some of the buzz at the time pirates fired on a fancy cruise ship off the Somali coast — oh about a year ago — is that the cruise ship defended itself by aiming a sonic weapon at the pirate boat; if you get the aim right, you envelope evildoers in unendurable audio frequencies and intensities. Hmmm, I like it, very Comic Book-y. But ultimately the skipper just pulled a sharp left and headed out to deep water and outdistanced the pirates in their little slow pirate boat.
And then there’s the ever-popular …
The Olympian (WA)
Associated Press
Saturday 24 June 2006
Deputy on leave after using gun, not Taser
BREMERTON (WA) — The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office has placed a deputy on administrative leave after the deputy shot and wounded a man in a tree with his gun instead of a Taser, the sheriff’s office said.
The deputy meant to fire the Taser and not his gun on Thursday, but grabbed the wrong weapon, sheriff’s office spokesman Scott Wilson told the Kitsap Sun.
The deputy has been with the sheriff’s office for five years.
Deputies carry both a Taser and a gun on their utility belts. The Taser used is similar in shape to the .40-caliber compact model gun the deputy used, Wilson said.
The Taser is a handheld weapon that delivers an electric shock via two stainless steel barbs.
The man had climbed high up a fig tree and had been there for several hours.
The shooting is under investigation by State Patrol detectives, Wilson said.
The man, believed to be in his 20s, was wounded in the leg and airlifted to Seattle’s Harborview Medical Center, where he was listed in satisfactory condition.
Deputies and Bremerton Fire and Rescue personnel were called to the site of the tree after an employee of a local business reported the man had climbed the tree and was acting strangely. The man had been in the tree and talking to himself when one employee arrived at work at 7:30 a.m.
Deputies and rescue personnel attempted to coax the man from the tree for almost two hours before he was shot. During that time, the man was becoming increasingly hostile toward rescue personnel and deputies trying to get him out of the tree, witness David Blakeslee told the newspaper.
Deputies were unsure whether the man was intoxicated, on drugs, or possibly experiencing a psychotic episode.
One deputy attempted to discharge a Taser at the man, but when it did not work asked another deputy to fire a Taser. Instead of grabbing the Taser, the deputy grabbed and fired the gun, Wilson said.
Blakeslee, an employee with nearby B&B Auto Repair, described the man’s reaction to getting shot.
“He said, ‘Ow, that hurt, I’m coming down, I’m coming down,”‘ Blakeslee said.
The man climbed down the tree on his own where medical personnel were waiting, Blakeslee said.
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British ans USA government with Iranian terrorist government harassing me in my daily basic life 24/7.
I’m not safe every where? I traveling all around the world but they following me and harassing me.
Mind control technologies, electromagnetic, microwave weapons direct energy weapons been used on me since 1996 in London.
My msg to the wold leader is stop harassing me stop torturing me stop direct energy weapons right new and don’t against me any more!!!!
look on utub under maryhd33jq police and weapons