Debate Magazine
Police in troubled cities such as Baltimore, and Ferguson, are reportedly stocking up on a riot control substance called Skunk. Technically nontoxic but incredibly disgusting, it has been described as a cross between “dead animal and human excrement." Israeli Defense Forces developed Skunk in 2008 as a crowd-control weapon. Now Mistral, a company out of Bethesda, Maryland, is providing it to police departments in the United States. A BBC video shows its first use in action, sprayed by a hose, a system that has come to be known as the “crap cannon". Mistral reps say Skunk, once deployed, can only be neutralized with a special soap.