Japanese suisidal rate increased. See the method!

Toilet Cleaner, Bath Liquid Spark New Wave of Suicides in Japan

By Sachiko Sakamaki and Stuart Biggs
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...e.w&refer=japan


May 2 (Bloomberg) -- As many as 300 people may have killed themselves in Japan in the past year using a gas made from toilet cleaner and bath sulphur, a trend worrying officials in a country with one of the world's highest suicide rates.

The National Police Agency says it started compiling statistics on the number of people killing themselves with the gas, which Yoshinori Cho, secretary general of the Japan Suicide Prevention Association, estimates may have reached 300.

One person commits suicide about every 15 minutes in Japan, which has the world's ninth-highest rate for people taking their lives, according to the United Nations. Charities including the Tokyo Suicide Prevention Center are concerned the gas, which has replaced carbon monoxide poisoning as the most widely used method, may prompt more to kill themselves.

``The people who want to die are looking for a way to die painlessly,'' said Yuzo Kato, the center's director said in a phone interview today. ``Information posted on the Internet around March or April that you can die without suffering by using hydrogen sulfide prompted the recent surge.''

A 24-year-old man apparently committed suicide using hydrogen sulphide gas yesterday, leading to the evacuation of about 350 people in nearby houses on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, according to local police.

The government hopes preventing the spread of information about the gas will stop the trend. Japan's National Police Agency called on Internet service providers to remove information on the subject.

Demanding Explanations

The Japan Pharmaceutical Association told members to demand explanations from buyers of large quantities of the detergents and bath sulphur and to stock them out of reach of customers.

Still, Internet searches by Bloomberg News showed that while many pages have been removed, Web sites remain with instructions promising a ``clean death'' using the gas. One site lets readers input the size of a room to calculate the quantity of ingredients needed for a quick death.

``This has become a new method of suicide, producing a chain reaction of more suicides,'' Cho of the Japan Suicide Prevention Association said. ``I'm worried this may push someone on the brink to commit suicide.''

The gas is made using around four liters of ``Sanporu'' brand toilet cleaner and a similar amount of ``Mutohappu'' bath sulphur, both available at chemists and homeware stores, according to the site.

It costs about 4,000 yen ($38) to produce enough to commit suicide, based on current prices.

Hurting Others

Hydrogen sulfide is a flammable, colorless gas with an odor of rotten eggs commonly known as hydrosulfuric acid, according to the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry. Exposure to high concentration of the gas can be fatal, the agency says.

``There is a serious risk that third parties may be affected by production of the gas, which isn't prohibited by law,'' the Police Agency said in a statement on April 30.

Around 70 people fell ill on April 24 after a 14-year-old girl committed suicide using the gas in Kochi Prefecture, southern Japan, Kyodo English News reported.

Japan, with a population of 127.7 million, recorded 32,155 suicides in 2006, the most recent data available. Lithuania has the highest suicide rate with 40.2 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with 24 in Japan.

Statistics from an association of helplines for people facing life crises, show the number of callers claiming to be considering suicide have increased every year since 1991 when the service was founded. The association said 48,921 calls were received in 2006 from 9,909 in 1991.

Health Concerns

According to the police, 34.6 percent of suicide victims in 2006 were in their 60s, with those in their 50s and 40s the next biggest groups. The two biggest causes were health-care concerns and the economy, the police statistics show.

The government last month started deducting pension payments to those aged 75 and older to pay the premiums for a new medical insurance program at a time when food and fuel prices are rising.

Japan's ageing population and the government's ``harsh'' treatment of the elderly as it tries to cope with rising social security costs is a key factor in Japan's suicide rate, Kato of the Tokyo Suicide Prevention Center said.

``Once elderly people come to learn about hydrogen sulfide by newspaper reports, they may resort to this method because most of them would have bath sulphur at home,'' he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Sachiko Sakamaki in Tokyo at ssakamaki1@bloomberg.net; Stuart Biggs in Tokyo at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 2, 2008 04:02 EDT