Absract. Arguments are presented in favor of the increasing relevance of irritants to ensure the fulfillment of tasks by military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, as well as the need to reassess the risks to human health arising from their use. The results of an information-analytical data on methods and adverse effects of irritant application for purposes which are not prohibited by the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction are presented. Modern ideas about molecular mechanisms of the effect of irritants on structures of the nervous system are considered, which are based on the fact that the provocative effect of irritants is realized by changing the permeability of cation channels of the transient receptor potential of type A1, expressed at the ends of sensitive neurons. The results of experimental and clinical studies of specific modulation of these channels using their natural and synthetic antagonists are analyzed. Structural formulas and basic pharmacological characteristics of the most active antagonists are given and the prospect of their use as a basis for the development of drugs for the treatment of irritant lesions is substantiated. The data on the use of solutions based on amphoteric and chelating agents for emergency treatment of skin areas infected with irritants is presented. A number of promising areas of research on the creation of effective medical means of protection against lesions by irritants has been identified.