Demand a Moratorium on Chemical Weapons
In response to the Black Lives Matter protests, calling for racial justice and police accountability, that have swept the country since May, the Trump administration has deployed federal agents in select liberal-leaning cities to crack down on protesters exercising their First Amendment rights. In Portland, for example, we have seen federal agents attempt to quash protests with excessive uses of force, shooting rubber bullets that have seriously injured civilians, kidnapping protesters with no accountability, and most recently deploying unknown chemical weapons into crowds.
This must end.
As scientists and concerned members of the international community, we condemn the use of chemical weapons. 500 Women Scientists leadership member and data scientist Dr. Juniper Simonis, who has been on the front lines of the protests in Portland, has put together a petition outlining the harms of chemical weaponry to human health and the environment. The petition lays out the following demands:
A complete moratorium on chemical weapons being used on humans in the United States.
Full dismantling and proper disposal of law enforcement chemical weapons caches.
The legal default being set such that a chemical is not to be used and evidence must be provided of its safety before base consideration (“assumed toxic”).
Potential chemical weapons must undergo the same review as chemicals involved in agricultural applications.
They must also undergo a further review to specifically address use against humans.
