Editing Incapacitating agent (section)

==Sleeping gas==
Sleeping gas is an [[oneirogen]]ic [[general anaesthetic]] that is used to put subjects into a state in which they are not conscious of what is happening around them. Most sleeping gases have undesirable side effects, or are effective at doses that approach [[toxicity]]. 

It is primarily used for major surgeries and to render non-dangerous animals unconscious for research purposes.

Examples of modern [[volatile anaesthetics]] that may be considered sleeping gases are [[3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate|BZ]],<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=van Aken|first1=Jan|last2=Hammond|first2=Edward|date=2017-02-15|title=Genetic engineering and biological weapons|journal=EMBO Reports|volume=4|issue=Suppl 1|pages=S57–S60|doi=10.1038/sj.embor.embor860|issn=1469-221X|pmc=1326447|pmid=12789409}}</ref> [[halothane]] vapour (Fluothane),<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Madea|first1=Burkhard|last2=Mußhoff|first2=Frank|date=2017-02-15|title=Knock-Out Drugs: Their Prevalence, Modes of Action, and Means of Detection|journal=Deutsches Ärzteblatt International|volume=106|issue=20|pages=341–347|doi=10.3238/arztebl.2009.0341|issn=1866-0452|pmc=2689633|pmid=19547737}}</ref> [[methyl propyl ether]] (Neothyl), [[methoxyflurane]] (Penthrane),<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Nguyen|first1=Nam Q.|last2=Toscano|first2=Leanne|last3=Lawrence|first3=Matthew|last4=Phan|first4=Vinh-An|last5=Singh|first5=Rajvinder|last6=Bampton|first6=Peter|last7=Fraser|first7=Robert J.|last8=Holloway|first8=Richard H.|last9=Schoeman|first9=Mark N.|date=2017-02-15|title=Portable inhaled methoxyflurane is feasible and safe for colonoscopy in subjects with morbid obesity and/or obstructive sleep apnea|journal=Endoscopy International Open|volume=3|issue=5|pages=E487–E493|doi=10.1055/s-0034-1392366|issn=2364-3722|pmc=4612230|pmid=26528506}}</ref> and the undisclosed [[fentanyl]] derivative [[Kolokol-1|delivery system]] used by the [[Federal Security Service (Russia)|FSB]] in the [[Moscow theater hostage crisis]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/world/hostage-drama-in-moscow-the-toxic-agent-us-suspects-opiate-in-gas-in-russia-raid.html|title=HOSTAGE DRAMA IN MOSCOW: THE TOXIC AGENT; U.S. Suspects Opiate in Gas In Russia Raid|last1=Miller|first1=Judith|date=2002-10-29|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2017-02-15|last2=Broad|first2=William J.|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

[[File:Sleeping gas alarm retail package.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Picture of a sleeping gas alarm on sale in [[Finland]].]]

===Side effects===
Possible side effects might not prevent use of sleeping gas by criminals willing to [[murder]], or carefully control the dose on a single already sleepy individual. There are reports of thieves spraying sleeping gases on campers,<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/11068184/New-spate-of-attacks-by-sleeping-gas-gang-caravanners-warned.html|title=New spate of attacks by sleeping gas gang, caravanners warned|newspaper=Telegraph.co.uk|access-date=2017-02-15|language=en}}</ref> or in train compartments in some parts of Europe.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/americanstraveli0000nwan|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/americanstraveli0000nwan/page/66 66]|quote=examples of sleeping gas.|title=Americans Traveling Abroad: What You Should Know Before You Go|last=Nwanna|first=Gladson I.|date=2004-01-01|publisher=Frontline Publishers, Inc.|isbn=9781890605100|language=en}}</ref> [[Alarm]]s are sold to detect such attacks and alert the victim.<ref name=":0" />

===Moscow theatre siege===
There is one documented case of incapacitating agents being used in recent years. In 2002, Chechen terrorists took a large number of hostages in the [[Moscow theatre siege]], and threatened to blow up the entire theatre if any attempt was made to break the siege. An incapacitating agent was used to disable the terrorists whilst the theatre was stormed by special forces. However, [[Moscow hostage crisis chemical agent|the incapacitating agent]], unknown at that time, caused many of the hostages to die. The terrorists were rendered unconscious, but roughly 15% of the 800 people exposed were killed by the gas.<ref name="CNN report siege gas">{{cite news|url=http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/30/moscow.gas/index.html|title=Russia names Moscow siege gas|work=CNN|date=2002-10-30|access-date=2012-12-11|archive-date=2009-06-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090607031200/http://archives.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/10/30/moscow.gas/index.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The situation was not helped by the fact that the authorities kept the nature of the incapacitating agent secret from doctors trying to treat its victims. At the time, the gas was reported to be an unknown incapacitating agent called "[[Kolokol-1]]". The Russian Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko later stated that the incapacitating agent used was a [[fentanyl]] derivative.

Scientists at Britain's chemical and biological defense labs at [[Porton Down]] analyzed residue from the clothing of three hostages and the urine of one hostage rescued during the [[Moscow theater hostage crisis]] and found two chemical derivatives of fentanyl, [[remifentanil]] and [[carfentanil]].<ref name="PortonDownCarfentanil">{{Cite journal |last1=Timperley |first1=Christopher |last2=Riches |first2=James  |last3=Read |first3=Robert |last4=Black |first4=Robin |last5=Cooper |first5=Nicholas |year=2012 |title=Analysis of Clothing and Urine from Moscow Theatre Siege Casualties Reveals Carfentanil and Remifentanil Use |journal=Journal of Analytical Toxicology |publication-date=20 September 2012 |volume=36 |issue=9 |pages=647–656 |doi=10.1093/jat/bks078|pmid=23002178 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1038609 |doi-access=free }}Analysis of Clothing and Urine from Moscow Theatre Siege Casualties Reveals Carfentanil and Remifentanil Use</ref>

===Bolivian rapes===
In a [[Mennonite]] community in Bolivia, eight men were convicted of raping 130 women in [[Manitoba Colony, Bolivia|Manitoba Colony]] over a four-year period from 2005 to 2009, by spraying "a chemical used to anesthetize cows" through the victims' open bedroom windows. The perpetrators would then wait for the women to be incapacitated, whereupon they entered the residences to commit the crimes. Later, the women would awaken to a pounding headache, find blood, semen or dirt on their sheets, and would sometimes discover their extremities had also been bound. Most did not remember the attacks, although a few had vague, fleeting memories of men on top of them. Several men and boys were also suspected of having been raped. While additional actors were thought to have participated, they were never identified nor prosecuted; in fact, the rapes did not stop with the incarceration of the original eight men.<ref name=VICE>{{cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-ghost-rapes-of-bolivia-000300-v20n8/ |title=The Ghost Rapes of Bolivia |author=Jean Friedman-Rudovsky |access-date=23 August 2013 |publisher=VICE.com}}</ref>

When two of these men were caught in the act of entering one of the women's homes, they implicated friends in the rapes to local authorities. Eventually nine Manitoba men, ages 19 to 43, were charged with using a spray adapted from an anesthetic by a veterinarian from a neighboring Mennonite colony to subdue their victims, then raping them. Eight of the accused were found guilty of rape, one escaped from the local jail before the end of the trial, and the veterinarian was found guilty of being an accomplice to the rapes. According to at least three residents of the colony, a local prosecutor, and a local journalist, these "ghost rapes" continue despite imprisonment of the men convicted in the 130 original rapes.<ref name=VICE/>