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Indian Military Hopes to Weaponize the Searing "Ghost Pepper"
coondoggie writes "The military in India is looking to weaponize the world's hottest chili, the bhut jolokia or 'ghost pepper,' according to a number of news outlets. The Bhut Jolokia chili pepper from Assam, India is no ordinary pepper. In tests first conducted by the New Mexico State University in 2008 and subsequently confirmed by Guinness World records and others, the Bhut Jolokia reached over one million Scoville heat units, while the next hottest, the Red Savina Habenero, clocks in at a mere 577,000. Scoville units are a universally accepted measure of chili hotness."
Scoville units are a universally accepted measure of chili hotness
I thought SCOville was universally accepted to be a litigious outhouse?
Read this on military.com this morning.
http://www.military.com/news/article/india-to-weaponize-worlds-hottest-chili.html
They apparently eat this because it tastes good. To each his own.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
Screw invading Iraq, next time do India. Don't forget the nachos though!
There is something else I've weaponized, but it won't give you that searing sensation...
Living With a Nerd
From past experience I can recommened the development of a chicken Vindaloo bomb. It will cause injuries when dropped then again about 24 hours later.
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
The next hottest down would be the closely-related Dorset Naga, which is around 900k - 1M scovilles.
But that's if you believe the Scoville scale, which is a subjective measurement of capsaicin content. I've had sauces that advertise a 250k rating that don't seem as hot as some 50k stuff. Makers seem to artifically inflate their ratings all the time, and how the heat hits you can change a lot, too. I've never had the oppertunity to try a Dorset Naga myself, but I've heard they don't have much heat until about 20 minutes later (at which time you might have already had quite a few, popping them like candy).
Not a typewriter
They could try weaponizing extra-spicy Chana Masala too, but that might violate the Chemical Weapons Convention.
...but will using condiments provide 100% protection?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kO7MlHgJLA
Hopefully that's the right link.
There's a burger in TX that uses this pepper called the Four Horsemen Burger. As of the taping of this episode of Man Vs Food, only three people had managed to finish one in 25 minutes, with an additional 5 minutes of waiting without liquids. The host of the show became number 4, though it looked like he wasn't going to get past even the first bite.
Isn't that illegal (internationally) if a weapon causes this much pain and suffering?
Fifty watts per channel, baby cakes.
From TFA "When deployed, the grenade showers the targets with a dust so spicy that in trials subjects were blinded for hours and left with breathing problems." Still pretty mild compared to weaponized mustard.
India had weaponized chili peppers long ago - it's called Andhra cuisine.
Fuck systemd. Fuck Redhat. Fuck Soylent, too. Wait, scratch the last one.
spice up the middle peace process and surrounding warzones.
Eating raw Jolokia is a source of some mildly entertaining videos.
Lurking at the bottom of the gravity well, getting old
Flaming Tatas.
Best Slashdot Co
Weaponizing chilis? Been there, done that (ask the exgirlfriend...)...
In this case "the goggles do something"...
crazy dynamite monkey
First supersonic manoeuvrable cruise missiles, now world's hottest chilli bombs? Why does India need all these weapons?
I care not for your karma and your mod points.
A pepper gap such as this cannot be tolerated. The security of our nation depends on meeting or exceeding these advances! At the very least, a space based pepper shield should be a highest priority. Pepper is Not A Game! Oh, wait, it is. My bad.
The article implies that 1,000,000 scoville's is nasty stuff compared to the habenero. Yet when looking at wikipedia's entry on the scoville scale, it says law enforcement pepper spray is rated at 5,000,000 to 5,300,00 million scovilles. In other words, the pepper spray currently on the market is already stronger than the bhut jolokia. So what's the news then, if they are developing a weapon with significantly less strength than what's currently on the market?
defenses!
So it should be safe to use on your food. http://www.madeinnewmexico.com/647293003150.html
I can't wait to taste this in a batch of chili.
The active ingredient that makes that pepper so hot is Capsaicin, the same stuff in pepper spray.
Is it actually cheaper for them to use the local grown pepper with a variable yield than just using the pure substance with a controlled yield?
The article says they want to use it for troops in cold areas. This scares me. It heavily implies that some moron in charge has no understanding of science. Just because it tastes hot doesn't mean it'll help avoid hypothermia in the slightest. (In fact, they are more likely to succumb to hypothermia if they try to 'reduce' the 'heat' from those peppers by taking off clothes or drinking cold liquids or sucking snow.)
I'm going to throw out a guess that this isn't about the effectiveness of the pepper, but rather a homegrown movement to use a local product (in an inferior form) rather than a possibly foreign product. Sometimes the politicians in India are know to do stupid things like that.
Come to think of it, sometimes US politicians do the same thing...
(Buy American! Even if it's a piece of crap that costs three times as much as the one made in Canada, or where-ever.)
One last thing, don't forget that exposure to high doses of Capsaicin can seriously mess you up, and in some extreme cases, kill.
(For example, gassing someone who has asthma.)
I must be missing something here:
1) I'm pretty sure it's a banned weapon militarily speaking.
2)Who cares which pepper the capsaicin came from!? How would this be any different than any of the current commercial pepper sprays/balls/bombs?
Pepper spray manufacturers have long been extracting pure capsaicinoids to put in their products. It doesn't matter how hot the supplying pepper is, once the capsaicinoid is extracted and purified it has a rating of from 8m-16m scoville heat units (depending on which capsaicinoid they're extracting). OC sprays and grenades dilute that down to about 5m when they use it. So whether the capsiacinoid comes from the "legendary ghost pepper" or a pimento, it doesn't really matter. There is nothing new here.
...Isn't this going to be a war crime, even if it's very good at neutralizing personell for a while without killing them? Granted I've never been hit with pepper spray or similar, but from the descriptions given by police cadettes (having to have a dose used on themselves before being allowed to use it) I would probably (besides the self-defense trial issues) batter someone quite severely rather than spray them with that stuff. And that's *normal* pepper spray. It would probably be used for temporary area denial (or whatever the proper military term is), sure, but when I saw this I got quite vivid flashes of screaming women and children.
Emotions! In your brain!
There are already well established techniques for concentrating/purifying capsaicin.
It's even done commercially for non-weapons uses, plenty of hot sauces have Scoville ratings well above that of any natural pepper - http://www.hotsauceworld.com/bl6amrepeexe.html
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
So... they're trying to make pepper spray?
I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
And SCOville units are a measurement of how annoying a lawsuit is.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
is that they are making hand grenades with this ghost pepper, have they considered painball guns and instead of paint in the paintballs use powdered or jelled ghost pepper
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
I would like to recomment Buth Jolokia as a great chili, beyond just the high capsaicin content: it's a chili with a particular, very pleasant flavor.
As for "weaponizing it", there is one problem: individual sensitivity to capsaicin is extremely variable.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Could they mean that Bhut Jolokia has some different isomers of capsaicin with differing effects from "standard" pepper sprays? I'd have looked it up on wikipedia but they're down at the moment.
Is this thread making anyone else's mouth water, or is it just me?
The nature of the pepper is irrelevant unless you are eating the raw pepper. Pure CAPSAICIN will always have the maximum possible Scoville value of about 16,000,000.
The idea of the 'special' extra hot is moronic. Anyone can take a regular old jalapeno pepper, distill it's juices down 1,000 time and make something hotter than the Bhut Jolokia.
In fact, law enforcement grade pepper spray is at least 5x worse than even the Bhut Jolokia.
Anyone making a pepper spray looks for the CHEAPEST pepper you can find, on a dollar per Capsaicin basis, not giving a rat's a$$ about hot hot the original pepper was.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
and will be among the few complaining that this isn't hot enough and asking for more of this pepper when they finally drop the bomb!
Modern expressions of pungency in terms of Scoville units set pure capsaicin at either 15,000,000 or 16,000,000, and use HPLC to establish concentration of same (and related compounds). A Scoville rating is then set based on the concentration(s) measured.
So, knowing the reference standard, the measurements are actually quite objective.
Nobody, as far as I know, uses taste testers anymore.
In Liberty, Rene
Three words: Pakistan and China. They've been to war several times with the former, and have had bloody border clashes with the latter. India has also blamed Pakistan for terrorist violence over Kashmir, among other things, including the bloody attack on the Grand Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai.
It's worse now that Pakistan has nukes, but realistically Pakistan is not a viable military rival for her much larger and far more populous neighbor. The scenario that keeps me up at night is the growing rivalry between the world's two most populous countries, India and China. As China's economy booms and she becomes more assertive on the global stage, both nations will find themselves on a collision course in a competition for resources, and it's interesting to see how it will play out in the coming decades, particularly from a political standpoint, considering that it's a contest between the world's largest democracy and an authoritarian giant (my money is on India).
I'm not Indian, by the way, and I'd be very interested in hearing the viewpoints of any Indian and Chinese Slashdot readers. In your opinions, will the 21st Century see the development of a bi-polar world all over again, with competition and rivalry between two economic powerhouses who espouse radically different political philosophies?
In fact, Indian farmers say Bhut paste can be used for everything from sauces to tear gas. And there in lies the military's interest.
The Indian military is interested in the many uses of Bhut paste? I ... I don't know how to respond to this in a mature manner.
I saw the "Spices" movie. It was terrible. A hot chick constantly praising "Spices, oh thank you Spices".
Total bullshit.
There are some peppers (i.e. what we in Mexico call pimiento morrón -- Paprika or sweet pepper, depending on whom you ask) that have _very_ high capsaicin levels, but is completely non-hot, at least to our standards (I know that even Argentinians use it for salads, and you can't get any more non-spicy than Argentinians ;-) ).
Pure Capsaicin is at 16 million Scoville.
So you might say that 1/16th of that thing is pure Capsaicin.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Does that mean I cannot import them anymore since I would have to ask the EU whether it's ok for me to import that military hardware, and they're routinely rubberstamping such requests with "no"?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I think we have to invade india, they posses nuclear, chemical(ghost pepper) and biological(*) weapons.
(*) River Ghanges - half burned dead bodies, shit, etc ..
That fetish might be less popular than you think it is.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
...I wouldn't want them trying to restaurant-ize the casualties.
I've always considered the heat of nagas very overrated myself. I eat habaneros and bonnets most days and sometimes nagas although they cost more they are better flavour IMO. As for the heat they aren't what everyone makes out, most people I know who care for tasty heat are shocked they are less hot that they expect when they try them. Here in the UK I only buy my chilli from independent middle eastern and asian stores since nagas and habaneros are cheaper and they do more chilli varieties in my local ones and compared to the rubbish tesco sell are much much hotter. I've tried packets and packets of the dorset naga variety tesco sell and they are much weaker then decent bonnets and cost way over the odds at nearly £1 for 2 or 3 (I can get about 12 or so for that price but hotter nicer flavour ones). Now pure capsaicin is another matter. A friend of mine I studied with who also loves hot food tried some that was in the lab and his reaction convinced me it was a bad.......... very bad........... idea. He only tried the most miniscule dot your could imagine but it impressed him so much I doubt he'd do it again. Now that is something I'd love to see in food ........ just not mine hehehehe.
This is what we should be weaponizing. Its much nastier and is also a carcinogen! Good times.....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbia#Toxicity (sorry, html tags don't seem to work for creating hyperlink....)
Guys, I have to offer you this piece of advice. As someone who's been down this road before.
At this point, you should smash your scouter. Stop relying on machines to measure these things, the numbers are only going to psyche you out.
Bow-ties are cool.
Pepper spray is made by extracting the capsaicin from hot peppers. Hotter peppers means more efficient manufacturing process.
Are you adequate?
"Vindictive In A Loo"
they will need riot control measures
LOL
How about cow Vindaloo? That was enough to drive a T_Rex crazy! Ask Lister or Rimmer about that.
Seven pot from Trinidad & Tobago is also worth trying. It has the greatest taste with about the same heat levels as the hyped Bih Jolokia/Bhut Jolokia/Naga Morich.
Ones I've grown here at home have - when measured by my pain receptors - been clearly hotter than Nagas from the grocery store. Your mileage may vary as the growing conditions have considerable impact on pungency. IIRC when Indians were evaluating Bih Jolokias (probably for the reason stated in the topic) it was noted that the ones harvested from drier areas rated only half as high SHUs as ones collected from more humid sites.
I'm not saying that Bih Jolokia is no good. It is. I actually use it as powder to spice my food almost every day (to be honest simply because I havent got enough Seven pot), but there are also other delicious and ridicilously hot chillies.
tasers are potentially lethal, pepper spray is very painful...
so we should go back to good old guns?
its easy to argue against pepper spray or the taser when their negative effects are examined in a vacuum, but in reality, the only context that matters, they are used as a LESS lethal choice
its kind of like griping about the problems of government controlling healthcare, which are real problems. but as if the alternative, corporate controlled healthcare, is any better!
people need to stop basing their opinions on the negatives of certain choices, without considering the negatives of your other choices, which can be even worse
its some sort horrible logic fail, but its incredibly common in the formation of people's opinions
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
At least one pepper sauce company has been offering pure capsaicin since 2006. It seems like more of a publicity stunt than a product, but it's not fabulously expensive. Another company offers a 7,000,000 Scoville unit for $90 an ounce. Capsaicin was synthesized in 1930. I don't know whether it's cheaper to synthesize it or purify it from natural sources, but either way it doesn't seem as if military uses would depend on finding any particularly hot natural peppers.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
If you read the wiki article;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_heat_units, it say that law enforcement grade pepper spray is five times as strong as the bhut jolokia so what the point?
are you sure :)
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y195/sal33221/Habanero-tan.jpg
Its not really being designed as a chemical weapon on the battlefield, but more of an anti terrorist weapon where there can be hostage crisis etc.,
For example, to flush out people holed up in caves etc.,
Traditionally, you would lob a grenade and kill everyone, hostages included.
with a pepper grenade, you would just get everyone on their knees with eyes and lungs burning. So without loss of life, lots of hostage situations can be defused.
Its being though of an alternative to tear gas, which is not really very effective in many cases.
My Aurora : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o91ZsGwJYyg
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