Young using preservative chemical to commit suicide

Young people are using a common chemical in very high doses to commit suicide.

Sodium nitrite, used as a food preservative in cured meats and bacon, is being blamed for the sudden rise in rates of suicide in young people around the world.

They are sourcing pure sodium nitrite in high doses on the web, a research group from BMJ Research has reported—and they say governments must act to control the trade and also stop the exchange of information that outlines the lethal dose to take.

The true problem could be far worse than figures suggest: it’s only recently that pathologists have even been looking for levels of the chemical in suicide cases.

In an analysis of biological samples from 274 cases of young people who had committed suicide in the UK, the researchers discovered that sodium nitrite levels were around a hundred times higher than normal in nearly 90 percent of cases, suggesting that it had been deliberately taken in lethal doses.

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