Some "Humor" based in real practice right in the the USA.

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Police in Cambridge say spicy foods create immunity to pepper spray

       Friday, August 13, 1999

      URL:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/1999/08/13/nati

onal0603EDT0498.DTL

     (08-13) 03:03 PDT CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) -- Police here are being
taught that pepper spray is less effective against Mexican-Americans and
other ethnic groups because of their long exposure to spicy foods.

       Cambridge officers are told that people who are exposed to hot
peppers at an early age develop a tolerance to the spray. The Cambridge
Police Department offers no supporting scientific data.

      ``I think people will laugh when they hear this -- it's so
ridiculous,'' said Manuel Macias, a lawyer who assists Central American
refugees in Cambridge. ``But it's a laugh with irony and an edge because
of
the knowledge that these officers think you are physically different.''

      The spray, a mixture of cayenne pepper and natural oils commonly
called ``O.C.'' by police, is used to incapacitate belligerents. When
it's sprayed directly into the eyes or face, it causes a severe burning
sensation that lasts up to an hour.

       ``The people it doesn't affect are people who have consumed
cayenne pepper from the time they are small children, and this generally
breaks into ethnic categories,'' said Frank Gutoski, the officer who
teaches the programs.

       He said people who handled cayenne pepper in produce departments,
processing plants or fields also were less susceptible.

       ``Mexican-Americans tend to be pickers,'' he said. ``So with
Cajuns, Mexican-Americans, Pakistani, Indian ... what happens is that
O.C. is effective for a much shorter time.''

       Gutoski said he received his information from the Massachusetts
Criminal Justice Training Council. But council director Kevin Harrington
denied the information was part of his program's curriculum.

       ``This is not something that's condoned by our agency at all,''
he said.

       Police spokesman Frank Pasquarello said the information was
presented to officers in a professional manner and no ethnic groups were
being ridiculed.

       He also said officers have never been instructed to give a longer
spray to members of certain ethnic groups.

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