What&#39;s Actually Inside the Tear Gas Being Used in Egypt?S
The tear gas grenades being used to quell protestors in Egypt
are actually made right here in the USA. They're intended to
cause "tearing of the eyes" and "irritation of respiratory tract
and mucous membranes". What's inside the tear gas?   Ars
Technica took a look at some of the tear gas canisters, which
are made by Combined Tactical Systems in Jamestown,
Pennsylvania, and found that the grenades and canisters are
"largely filled with a fuel mixture that burns to disperse the
tearing agent." One grenade, the Model 5220 CN Smoke Grenade,
has a starter mixture of potassium nitrate, silicon, and
charcoal which is used to light CN smoke (a form of tear gas):
The CN smoke is 71 percent fuel, made up of potassium chlorate,
magnesium carbonate, nitrocellulose, and… sucrose. The other 29
percent of the smoke is the tearing agent, chloroacetophenone,
which has been around for nearly a century and causes severe
irritation of the mucous membranes.  That's