U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon dismissed a lawsuit brought by naval police officers who had tried to stop the Navy form shooting pepper spray directly into the eyes of recruits. The plaintiffs had suggested that the Navy use less dangerous methods of exposing trainees to the chemical, such as smearing the spray on the skin beneath the eyes or having trainees walk through a room that had just been sprayed. Leon ruled that the court could not overrule the Navy’s decision-making authority because it could not be shown that the training program had been designed arbitrarily and because the practice did not “shock the conscience.” Pepper spray, an extraction from capsicum peppers, is banned in warfare, according to the Chemical Weapons Convention Treaty, signed by the United States in January 1993. However, the treaty does make exceptions for use against rioting POWs, during rescue missions and where civilians are being used to mask an attack.