Hot chili grenades

India defense scientists are designing "non-lethal" hand grenades laced with hot chili powder. From the BBC:

Researchers say the idea is to replace explosives in small hand grenades with a certain variety of red chilli to immobilise people without killing them.

The chilli, known as Bhut Jolokia, is said to be 1,000 times hotter than commonly used kitchen chilli.

Scientists at India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) are quoted as saying the potent chilli will be used as a food additive for troops operating in cold conditions.

India plans hot chilli grenades (Thanks, Carlo Longino!)

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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buddy66

Oh, bullshit. Anything a thousand times hotter than kitchen chili would be like napalm or willy peter.
edgore

@buddy66

If they are using the Scoville scale their figures are probably about right.

A Poblano pepper – which is about as average as you can get – rates a about 3,000, while pepper spray rates about 3,000,000. So you are probably looking at something that is similar in strength to pepper spray. Which, from what I have heard is plenty awful.
zuludaddy

MMmmmm, Bhut Jolokia..

Also known as the Ghost Pepper, this is the current reigning king of the Scoville charts – hotter than anything that grows, and just shy of the capsaicin extract preparations. I’ve had the pleasure, and it is fair to say these are pretty hot.

The name Ghost Pepper comes from the curious property it has when eaten. At first, it seems pretty spicy – perhaps in the habanero/scotch bonnet range. About 10-30 seconds after you have swallowed it, another blast of heat comes through strong enough to reduce a grown man to tears. It “comes back to haunt you”…

For those so inclined, check out the East Coast Grill in Cambridge, MA, and their occasional “Hotter Than Hell” nights. Seriously worth traveling for, if you are into this sort of thing….
Anonymous

@4- some good points there. I would also like to point out at the taser is not “non-lethal,” it is merely less lethal. If the person tasered happens to have a heart condition or is on a drug that increases heart rate the taser can cause a heart attack. Tasers can, and have caused death.

http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?id=engamr510302006
Xenu

I’ll bring the corn chips.
Anonymous

Hmm. I don’t know nothin’ about no Scoville scale … so live and learn, I guess.

I just don’t want to get near that shit. I got pepper-gassed at Berkley and I don’t forget it.
Anonymous

If the person tasered happens to have a heart condition or is on a drug that increases heart rate the taser can cause a heart attack.

Right. And if the taser happens to kill you, well then by definition you had a “heart condition.” But for “normal people” it’s perfectly safe. You’re normal, right?
ariadneallan

I”m imagining a grenade qty of the stuff as being more than what you’d get out of a spray of pepper spray, and with better dispersal. With a pepper that hot, might it prove a little more permanently detrimental to things like eyeballs?
allen

@4 agreed

Also, I think that when discussing where something sits in scoville units, the best tern is “Scovillocity”.
Blue

Chemical weapons are illegal under international treaties, are they not?

Unless used against civillians, of course.

Natch.
querent

@4 Yes yes yes. I myself was threatened with a taser while nonviolently resisting an unlawful arrest (ie non-cooperation/just go limp). The cops just got pissed and wanted to hurt me.

An excellent point @ 4
Anonymous

we can replace all the arms in the world with chili pepper grenades

Bullshit. You people don’t get it. “Less lethal weaponry” is never used instead of lethal weaponry. No army will ever deploy this against another army on a battlefield. Less lethal weapons are employed against civilian targets in circumstances where no weapon at all would previously be employed.
gnosis

Didn’t Jackie Chan invent this? Or was it Tony Jaa…
demidan

I vote for the Chicken Vindaloo grenade!
Takuan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3q8Unf5MHU
ryuthrowsstuff

Pepper spray is already made from capsicum (what makes chili peppers hot. And that’s already in grenades. I don’t see how this is any different.
Anonymous

Similar chilli smoke bombs are already being used in North-East India (Assam) by farmers and NGOs to chase away elephants from crop fields and reduce human-elephant conflict.

Also, while ‘Bhut Jholokia’ does translate directly to Ghost Pepper, it’s actually named ‘Bhut’ after the Bhutia trib. Another example would be Bhutan.

And finally, the Bhut Jholokia grown in Assam is the highest rated chilli using the Scoville scale; due to differences in humidity and ambient conditions, the same species grown in other parts of India is not even half as spicy.
PFlint

The defense against this weapon is a mild masala mask, you know, to take up the spice. Or maybe yoghurt.
Ernunnos

Just another way to dispense pepper spray. And probably not a new one. Pepper-filled “paint” balls are already available, as are paintball grenades. Putting the two together should be trivial.
kleer001

Only problem is that some people are so immune they like it. Unlike the terrible sound based crowd dispersion technology which makes you feel like your flesh is burning.
Anonymous

All “non-lethal” items are just used as a tool to increase control of a population. It is a sham to present non-lethal options as better for citizens. Better for government thugs is more like it. Look at how the use of the taser has evolved. It was supposed to only be used in situations where a gun would have been used, but it is used much more often now as tool of control and punishment.
grimc

The hot chili grenades from the taco truck down the street are proven capable of immobilizing an adult human for the better part of an afternoon.
McChud

i like it. we can replace all the arms in the world with chili pepper grenades, dropping pillow bombs from the sky, super-bouncy-ball cluster bombs, snowball cannons, and rubber bullets. it will be like schoolyard wars, but leave bigger bruises. and then wars will be exposed as being as childish as it really is. soldiers and commanders will tire themselves out eventually.
EH

To be sure, commonly used kitchen chili is pretty weak.
edgore

Don’t very hot chilies increase bloodflow to the surface of the skin, and also make you sweat? Wouldn’t that be a BAD THING in cold conditions? Why would you use them as a food additive in those circumstances?