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# Evidence of a military-grade Pokémon-inspired seizure gun
- URL: https://www.killscreen.com/evidence-pokemon-inspired-seizure-gun/
- Published: 2012-10-02T19:30:10.000Z
- Updated: 2015-11-17T14:52:10.000Z
- Description: In 1998 the US Army was trying to think of non-lethal ways to incapacitate enemy soldiers. One of these ideas was to induce seizures in them. Spencer Ackerman at i09 gets down to the details: The [Army’s analysis] cautioned that the effectiveness of incapacitating a human nervous system with an elec
- Author: Rachel Helps
- Tags: News, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-26 09:39

![](http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/180b5jzopyxdljpg/original.jpg)

In 1998 the US Army was trying to think of non-lethal ways to incapacitate enemy soldiers. One of these ideas was to induce seizures in them. Spencer Ackerman at i09 gets down to the details:

> The \[Army’s analysis\] cautioned that the effectiveness of incapacitating a human nervous system with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) “has not been tested.” But the analysis speculated that “50 to 100 kV/m free field of very sharp pulses” would likely be “sufficient to trigger neurons or make them more susceptible to firing.” And a weapon that harnessed an EMP-induced seizure could conceivably work from “hundreds of miles” away. The idea might as well have been stamped “As Seen on TV.”  
>  
> “The photic-induced seizure phenomenon was [borne out demonstrably](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqBoqOsxmkY&ref=killscreen.com) on December 16, 1997 on Japanese television when hundreds of viewers of a popular cartoon were treated, inadvertently, to photic seizure induction,” the analysis noted. That cartoon was *Pokemon*, and the [incident received worldwide attention](http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9712/17/japan.cartoon/?ref=killscreen.com). About 700 viewers showed symptoms of epilepsy — mostly vomiting — an occasional, if strange, occurrence with TV shows and videogames [due to rapid, flashing lights](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photosensitive%5Fepilepsy?ref=killscreen.com).