‘10 times more painful’: Menstrual disorders fuel calls to ban tear gas at French protests

Early in the protest movement that has swept France since September, a tear gas canister fired at close range shattered the jaw of a high-school pupil in a Paris suburb, leaving him largely toothless, unable to speak and eating only through a straw. It was just one in a long list of grievous injuries that inflamed protests across the country, heightening scrutiny of French police’s heavy-handed tactics and formidable weapons arsenal. While the scrutiny has centred on the stun grenades and rubber bullets that left some students with gouged eyes and severed limbs, activists and health workers are calling for greater focus on the content of the canister that crushed 14-year-old Eden’s jaw. Read moreSevere injuries at French student protests draw scrutiny to police tactics They point to the consequences of police’s mass use of tear gas during clashes on the sidelines of otherwise peaceful rallies, challenging the notion that the chemical irritant is a safe method of dispersing protesters. Mounting reports of tear gas disrupting menstrual cycles and causing acutely painful periods, in particular, have cast a spotlight on a little known impact of the gas, echoing complaints voiced in the...