29 7.3 CHEMICAL IRRITANTS LAUNCHED AT A DISTANCE (TEAR GAS) UTILITY AND DESIGN 7.3.1 A range of chemical irritants 87 can be launched from a distance at groups of individuals engaged in violent acts. The term “tear gas”’ is used to describe a variety of lachrymatory agents used by police forces in certain countries. The most widely used chemical irritant dispersed at a distance is “CS” (either micronized powder or pyrotechnically generated CS particles), which is typically discharged either in the form of projectiles or from grenades shot from a launcher. Malodorants are also dispersed at a distance. 7.3.2 The aim of using chemical irritants dispersed at a distance is usually to cause the members of the group to disperse and to refrain from violence. In such circumstances, they should be fired at a high angle.88 SPECIFIC RISKS 7.3.3 A stampede may result when irritants are used against a crowd in an enclosed area, such as a football stadium.89 Tear gas may have indiscriminate effects in open areas because of changes in wind direction. In certain cases, the consequences of using chemical irritants may be The term “riot control agent” is employed in the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction (Chemical Weapons Convention). Therein these agents are defined broadly as “[a]ny chemical not listed in a Schedule, which can produce rapidly in humans sensory irritation or disabling physical effects which disappear within a short time following termination of exposure” (article II(7)). Their use is not restricted to a riot, as defined by States under domestic law. In 2014, the Technical Secretariat of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons published the Note by the Technical Secretariat: Declaration of Riot Control Agents: Advice from the Scientific Advisory Board (S/1177/2014) (available at http://bit.ly/2Dp3CXb). 88 European Court of Human Rights, Abdullah Yaşa and others v. Turkey, Judgment, 16  July 2013, paras. 42–49. 89 Report of the International Commission of Inquiry mandated to establish the facts and circumstances of the events of 28 September 2009 in Guinea (S/2009/693, annex), para. 62. 87