Pepper spray (including the brand Mace, with which the term pepper spray is often used interchangeably) is a chemical agent made with the naturally-occurring substance oleoresin capsicum (OC), a distillate from plants of the Capsicum genus—chilli peppers. Developed in the 1970s, pepper spray functions similarly to tear gas: causing tremendous eye pain and tearing, irritation of the skin upon contact and burning in the respiratory tract upon inhalation.