New Japanese Suicide Fad

by Earl Morningstarr

Japan, well known for it’s alarmingly high suicide rates, is now struggling with a dangerous new suicide method popular with the country’s suicidal citizens.

“Gas Suicide” is an easy alternative to other ways of killing oneself in Japan at the moment. There have been almost 150 cases in the past few weeks of depressed Japanese men and women creating deadly toxic gases from easy to buy detergents and chemicals, the correct mixture of certain household products can produce hydrogen sulfide gas which paralyzes the respiratory system and leads to asphyxiation.

One of the real dangers of employing this method is the amount of innocent bystanders that can be killed or injured, in 145 cases of Gas Suicide attempts 136 people have died and 188 have been injured. When one young woman gassed herself earlier this year, an entire block of apartments were evacuated as people became ill from the gas escaping from the deceased’s room.

The popularity for using this method is growing however, and Japanese authorities are blaming this on the internet. There are a number of websites and forums dedicated to teaching people the methods for producing hydrogen sulfide, and allegedly encouraging the practice.

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New Japanese Suicide Fad

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