Hexachlorathane gas used on protesters in the US?
Executive summary
Multiple independent reporting projects, environmental tests and city statements indicate hexachloroethane-containing “HC” smoke grenades were deployed against protesters in several U.S. cities during 2020–2021, most notably Portland, where researchers collected labeled canisters and found chemical signatures consistent with HC munitions [1] [2]. Federal agencies have often declined to confirm use, creating gaps between forensic evidence, local government reports and official denials [1] [3].
1. What investigators actually found on the ground
Journalists and volunteer researchers recovered spent canisters labeled “Maximum HC Smoke” from protest sites in Portland and documented symptoms among exposed people—vomiting, hair loss, respiratory distress—that align with hexachloroethane and zinc chloride exposures; The Intercept reported volunteers collected multiple labeled canisters and symptom reports from protesters [1]. Independent environmental sampling in Portland identified gaseous zinc chloride and elevated heavy metals in soil and drains, which public-interest science groups and local reporters linked to HC smoke munitions [2] [4].
2. Which agencies and departments are implicated—and what they say
Reporting shows Department of Homeland Security-affiliated federal officers, including Federal Protective Services and other federal agents, were present and deployed chemical munitions during operations such as the Portland deployments; outlets documented federal use of chemical irritants while DHS did not respond to queries about HC specifically [1] [3]. Portland’s municipal updates later recorded reports that federal officers used “HC smoke (hexachloroethane smoke, also known as smoke grenades)” near the ICE facility, confirming the city had received multiple reports of HC use [5].
3. Health and environmental concerns driving the controversy
Hexachloroethane and the zinc chloride produced when HC compositions burn are associated in toxicological literature with respiratory injury, central nervous system effects and long-term cancer concerns; the National Toxicology Program and other commentators have flagged HC as reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen, and researchers documented acute and potential chronic harms after protest exposures [6] [7]. Forensic analyses cited by community groups claim air concentrations exceeded “Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health” thresholds in at least one instance and found heavy-metal contamination in runoff, though detailed peer‑reviewed exposure studies remain limited in the public record [8] [2].
4. Evidence, denials, and limits of public proof
While physical canisters with Defense Technology labels and chemical signatures have been reported by journalists and volunteer scientists, federal agencies frequently declined to answer questions about specific munition types, and some official spokespeople denied agency inventories included HC devices—producing a contested evidentiary record where forensics and eyewitness accounts point one way and some agency statements resist confirmation [1] [3]. Available sources document collection of canisters and environmental traces, but no single declassified federal inventory or chain-of-custody public release definitively ties every deployment to a named federal unit across all incidents [1] [2].
5. Legal framing, policy reactions and hidden incentives
Observers note the paradox that HC as a tactical smoke has military origins and is described by some chemical-weapons researchers as banned in war contexts yet has been repurposed domestically as a “smoke” or riot-control munition—an ambiguity critics call a regulatory loophole that permits federal forces to use more toxic compositions than municipal policies allow [7] [6]. Municipal bans and public-health outcry followed these deployments, but procurement records and the low unit price of commercial HC canisters help explain law-enforcement demand despite health warnings, revealing an implicit operational incentive to acquire potent crowd-control tools [9] [10].
6. Verdict and reporting gaps
Taken together, multiple credible news investigations, environmental testing and city notices establish that hexachloroethane-containing smoke munitions were very likely used on U.S. protesters in 2020–2021—especially in Portland—though federal agencies’ non‑responses and occasional denials leave some incidents without an unambiguous official attribution [1] [2] [5]. Public documentation of long-term health follow‑up, complete chain-of-custody forensic reports from independent labs, and fully transparent federal inventories remain sparse in the sourced record, limiting a fully conclusive public accounting [1] [3].