OC is a derivative of HOT CAYENNE PEPPERS and is the newest defensive spray agent. It is not an irritant like the tear gases, but an inflammatory agent. Contact with mucous membranes (eyes, nose, throat and lungs) will cause IMMEDIATE dilation of the capillaries of the eyes, resulting in TEMPORARY BLINDNESS and instant inflammation of the breathing tube tissues, cutting off ALL BUT LIFE – SUPPORT BREATHING. OC will not deteriorate with age and unlike the tear gasses, WILL NOT CAUSE LASTING AFTER EFFECTS.
     One of the biggest misconceptions about pepper spray is that the higher the percentage, the hotter and better it works. In most cases this could not be further from the truth. Most of the best, fastest incapacitating sprays in the world are from 2%-10%. The lighter the fluid, the faster it penetrates the membranes. The percentage has nothing to do with the actual SHU or "hot" in the spray. Also, thicker sprays can inflame the skin area more and last longer with this unnecessary inflammation. A good spray will put the attacker down and out allowing you to escape or take control of the situation.
     OC has proven itself to be the ABSOLUTE BEST DETERRENT available for attacking dogs and wild animal control. Another advantage of OC is that it is not volatile and will not emit a lot of fumes like tear gases.
     The term OC ( oleoresin capsicum ) is a horticultural term which refers to chili peppers. There are many different kinds of chili peppers ranging from jalapenos, chiletpin, and cayenne to habaneros. They all have one thing in common. They all contain a substance that is very powerful an alkaloid called capsaicin ( cap-say-a-sin ). Just a single drop of tasteless and odorless capsaicin in 100,000 drops of water and the heat can be noticeable. In fact, capsaicin can be detected by humans at one part per ten million!
     Capsaicinoids are produced by a gland in the pepper’s placenta, which is the top partition just below the stem. This is also where the seeds are attached. The placenta is about 16 times stronger than any other part of the plant, any OC spray worth its salt will use its active ingredient made from this part.
     Back in 1912, a pharmacologist named Wilbur Scoville came up with the standard for measuring the power of capsaicin. Called the Scoville Organoleptic Test, it was needed to calculate the temperature of peppers used in many pharmaceutical products of the time ( such as "Heet" which was used for the relief of sore muscles, arthritis pain and muscular sprains). Scoville measured the ground pepper into a mixture of sugar, water and alcohol. Then, a panel of five tasters sipped the mixture and gave it a grade; it took a majority of three to assign a value.
     Today, the value is established through high technology, a computerized method called high-performance liquid chromatography. The pepper scale ranges from zero Scoville unit for a bell pepper to 5,000 or so for a jalapeno to a whopping 200,00-300,000 for a habanero! Pure capaicin is 15,000,000. The oleoresin capsicum used in a superior pepper spray formula such as FOX LABS is derived from the hottest peppers and further processed and refined until the heat rating is 5,300,000 (5.3 million!).

What is in a typical canister of pepper spray?

All bear pepper sprays have in common the following 3 components: 1) oleoresin capsicum (OC for short; the oily residue extracted from hot red peppers that naturally contains the active ingredient - capsaicin - that elicits an intense burning sensation), 2) a carrier, or base, fluid into which the oleoresin capsicum is mixed to thin and dilute it, and 3) a propellant that supplies the energy to expel the carrier and active ingredients from the can.

What exactly is the “oleoresin capsicum” we see listed on the cans of pepper spray?

Before proceeding, a short vocabulary lesson is in order. Capsicum is the Latin word for pepper and is the genus-level designation for all peppers used in seasonings for hotness. Hence, oleoresin (oleo = oil and resin= extract obtained from a plant) capsicum (pepper) means quite literally "pepper extract in oil". When jalapenos (moderately hot), habaneros (fiery hot), or even bell peppers (no hotness at all) are finely ground, this pepper slurry mixed in vegetable oil literally becomes 'oleoresin capsicum'.

Oleoresin capsicum (abbreviated O.C.) is the oily mixture produced when the burning compounds, which naturally occur in hot red peppers, are extracted. O.C. is comprised primarily of a) carotenoids: the red pigments found in many vegetables, b) vegetable oils and, c) capsaicinoids, the compounds responsible for pungency. There are over 25 capsaicinoid compounds found in O.C., but only 3 are considered ‘active ingredients’ and are responsible for the "heat" or pungency of the solution: capsaicin, nordihydrocapsaicin and dihydrocapsaicin. The other capsaicinoids, while comprising a larger percentage of the O.C., are relatively inert with respect to their ability to elicit the burn response.

Above it was stated that OC is the oily mixture extracted from red peppers. But red peppers aren’t naturally oily. The oil in OC results from the process used to extract the active ingredient from ground peppers. Since capsaicinoids are highly soluble in oil, the slurry of freshly ground red peppers is saturated with vegetable oil then strained through fine sieves, leaving behind much of the plant cell wall matter. Some manufacturers use volatile solvents in combination with vegetable oil during the extraction process to reduce viscosity. This shortens the filtering time. Afterwards the volatile solvents are removed.

This capsaicinoid-rich oil is a deep red hue, however, because carotenoids in the peppers are too fine for the sieves to remove. Most oleoresin capsicum originates from red pepper growers in India and Africa. Further extraction and separation of capsaicin from the oil is expensive and since the target industry for most of this product is the commercial food business, vegetable oil is a choice medium for export and sale. Commercial food companies use OC to add hotness to everything from chili to salsa. The pepper spray manufacturing sector purchases this “food grade OC” in its thick, red state and combines it with a carrier chemical which dilutes and thins it out. Then, by adding a propellant to the canisters containing this mixture the contents can be expelled as “pepper spray”.

Capsaicinoids

The potent active ingredient, considered early as a single substance, "Capsaicin" was soon shown to be a mixture of two unsaturated and three saturated homologs. This mixture is now called Capsaicinoids. The pungent components of Capsicum annum include at least 5 compounds, known as Capsaicinoids:

Capsaicinoids are produced by glands in the pepper’s placenta, which is the top of the partition just below the stem. The placenta is about 16 times more pungent than the flesh.

There are several other ingredients in Capsicum that directly regulate the effectiveness of an OC formulation. One such ingredient is the pigment or the "Carotinoid" also called "Capsanthin" with a molecular formula of C40H56O3, and systematic name of (3R,3’S,5’R)-3,3'-Dihydroxy-ß,k-caroten-6'-one. Capsanthin has a molecular weight of 584.85

Capsaicin is available in synthetic or natural form. Law enforcement agencies should be aware of synthetic analogs that are used in order to increase the heat factor in Capsicum extracts, as well as synthetic or imitation Oleoresin Capsicums. Some of the known related synthetic capsaicin analogs are:

Be aware of synthetic analogues (chemicals) such as n-vanillyl octanamide used to increase the heat factor in Capsicum extracts to reduce production costs. These compounds are acidic in nature and can cause serious health hazards and eye damage.

Capsaicin produces inflammation of the mucous membranes. This is why those coming into contact with CAP-STUN experience an immediate closing of the eyes, difficulty in breathing and burning sensation of the skin called REMS.

This neurogenic inflamation is the key difference between CAP-STUN’s effects and other chemical agents and tear-gases.

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