There are situations in which a school resource officer would be justified in using pepper spray in a crowded middle school cafeteria -- to stop a fight involving knives, for example. But it's hard to understand why School Resource Officer Edith Darling felt the need to unleash the painful chemical at Pinellas Park Middle School to break up a fight between two sixth-grade boys.

Her over-reaction should be cause for possible discipline or reassignment, but the Pinellas County Sheriff's Department insists that she acted appropriately.

The department spokesman says Darling "followed the guidelines," by using the spray to break up a violent situation. Detective Tim Goodman says the pepper spray guidelines for breaking up school fights are the same as they are "for a deputy sheriff on the road." No adjustments are made for the age of the combatants and none are needed, according to Goodman.

Goodman says the use of pepper spray is justified as a way to prevent others from being injured. Of course, far more children were harmed by the release of the chemical spray than would have been if Darling had physically separating the boys.

According to various reports, between 18 and 40 children suffered significant symptoms. For hours after the incident, paramedics were helping some students breathe from oxygen tanks, and one girl with asthma was taken to the hospital.

The department is trying to pass off pepper spray as a benign tool. Goodman says the effects wear off within an hour. The department doesn't seem to understand that it is using a chemical weapon.

Pepper spray has not been tested for safety by the Food and Drug Administration, and its use on humans is still considered experimental. The scientific research that has been done suggests serious health and injury risks may be associated with the substance.

A research paper from the Department of Justice says the immediate effects of pepper spray are a "burning sensation (of the eyes, nose and throat) in conjunction with swelling, inflammation and tearing in the eyes. The swelling causes involuntary eye closure; nasal and sinus drainage; constricted airway; and gagging, coughing, and gasping for breath."

No teacher or administrator in the Pinellas County School District is authorized to use pepper spray, and if school resource officers are allowed to carry the substance, they should be given strict age-appropriate guidelines for its use. Here's a start: Disabling a student wielding a gun or knife, yes; ending fisticuffs between two sixth-graders, no.

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