Background

Incapacitating agents produce temporary physical and/or mental effects that result in the inability of the affected individual to continue in their current duties or activity.  Often they are described as non-lethal agents, but if administered in high enough doses, incapacitating agents can results in death or serious morbidity. There are three general categories of incapacitating agents:⁶¹

1. Anticholinergics

BZ (3-quinuclidinyl benzilate) is the prototypical anticholinergic agent but other anticholinergic agents may be developed for warfare. The British reportedly have a similar agent known as Agent 15. BZ is a centrally acting anticholinergic agent that was originally developed as a gastrointestinal antispasmodic but due to severe central nervous system effects was abandoned as a pharmaceutical.  As an incapacitating agent, it has a very high safety profile due to the relatively lower peripheral antimuscarinic effects when compared to atropine. An effective incapacitating dose is 0.5 mg, and BZ is typically dispersed as an aerosol or in smoke-producing munitions.

2. Sedating agents

Opioids and volatile anesthetics are both potential sedative or calming agents. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid with 100 times the potency of morphine. Newer derivatives of fentanyl are continuously in development. One such example is carfentanil with a potency 100 times fentanyl. While these agents are highly effective in individuals, aerosolizing them to use as an incapacitating agent can be problematic. It is likely that absorption in a crowd would be variable.

3. Riot control agents

Riot control agents, also known as harassing agents, cause irritation and discomfort often in the form lacrimation, mucous membrane irritation, violent coughing, or vomiting.  Typical agents include chloroacetophenone (CN) commonly known as Mace, chlorobenzylidene malononitrile (CS), oleoresin capsicum (OC) called pepper spray, and diphenylaminochloroarsine (DM) or Adamsite. CN is more harmful than the other agents with a lower LCt50 and DM tends to cause vomiting.