Resource Tag: GAS

Increases in suicide deaths by gassing, particularly carbon monoxide poisoning from burning barbecue charcoal, have occurred in many parts of East Asia and resulted in rises in overall suicide rates in some countries. Recent trends in gas poisoning suicides outside Asia have received little attention. Increases in helium inhalation as a method of suicide have […]

This ecological study tested the relationship between Australian legislation passed in 1986 & 1999 to reduce motor vehicle carbon monoxide emissions & suicide rates. Data on motor vehicle exhaust suicides from 2001-2006 were merged with data on the number & age of vehicles in the national fleet as well as sociodemographic data from the national […]

This book reviews the research on what has been learned about six specific ways of restricting access to methods of suicide: domestic gas, car exhaust, jumping from bridges & high buildings, jumping in front of trains & subway cars, medications & poisons, & for some countries – not including the United States, firearms.

The effectiveness of restricting access to certain means of suicide has been demonstrated, at least as regards toxic domestic gas, firearms, drugs, & bridges. At the individual level, studies tend to indicate many persons have a preference for a given means which would limit the possibility of substitution or displacement towards another method. Similarly, the […]

The theme of this Conference was “Injuries, Suicide & Violence: Building Knowledge, Policies & Practices to Promote a Safer World”

~

The evolution of the phenomenon of burning charcoal to complete suicide by carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning (an increasingly common method of completing suicide in Hong Kong since 1998), was explored in the current study. It was found that CO poisoning by burning charcoal rose from 0% of all Hong Kong suicides in 1996 & 1997 […]

~

This review analyzes a body of research conducted by the author & his colleagues between 1983 & 1993 on the effects of limiting access to lethal methods for suicide & homicide. Results provide evidence that limiting access to a preffered method has a preventive effect, more clearly so for suicide than for homicide. However, there […]

From 1950 to 1980 in Japan, estimates of the availability of medicaments, toxic domestic gas & motor vehicle exhaust, & firearms were strongly associated with the suicide rates using those methods. The results of this study suggest that restricting access to lethal methods of suicide may reduce the suicide rate in Japan. (3 refs)

This article briefly reports that studies of the effects of the detoxification of domestic gas in 6 nations showed that the over-all suicide rate declined if the use of domestic gas for suicide was common. (7 refs)

The present chapter reviews a series of regional & time series studies on the effects of reducing the availability of firearms, toxic car exhaust & toxic domestic gas on suicide. Though the data do not provide a definitive conclusion, the results do indicate that reducing the availability of a method for suicide reduces its use […]

Research on opportunity factors & suicide has focused on a series of factors including firearm availability, gun control, & the detoxification of household gas. It is argued that there is a series of methodological problems in this area of research & these are described. Stack concludes that given the extensiveness of these problems, the understanding […]

There have been 2 major strategies adopted to prevent suicide: suicide prevention centres, & psychiatric & counselling treatments for depressed or suicidal patients. These approaches are examined in detail in this chapter. Lester also reviews a number of regional & time series studies on the effects on the suicide rate of reducing the availability of […]

A 26-year-old male committed suicide by inducing asphyxia using a combination of plastic bag suffocation & propane-gas inhalation. This method has been previously reported, but remains unusual. Autopsy findings were consistent with a hypoxic event. (9 refs.)

Lester & Frank (1989) found that US states with higher per capita ownership of cars had higher suicide rates by car exhaust. The present study replicates this analysis using 1980 data for 28 countries. It was found that nations with more cars per capita had higher suicide rates in which gas was used, but did […]

This article describes Davis Inlet as a bleak Labrador community where self-destruction is virtually a civic preoccupation. It reports on the evacuation of gasoline-sniffing youth, aged 12-14 years, to native rehabilitation centers. In providing historical context, it notes the calamity is rooted in poverty but compounded by years of government neglect of this Innu community […]

In this series of letters to the editor, the authors discuss possible ways to reduce the number of deaths due to paracetamol overdoses. These include: public education; including specific warnings of the effects of overdose on the drug packaging; & as has been done in France, limiting the amount of paracetamol in each package to […]

This study is based on 219 deceased members of the Amalgamated Transit Union of Edmonton Alberta, and conducted proportionate mortality study against the distribution of all deaths among men in the province of Alberta, standardized by age and year of death. The authors found a highly significant excess from undetermined accidents due to gas, which […]

This study examines suicide rates in Switzerland during the period when domestic gas was detoxified. The author states that not only did the use of domestic gas for suicide decline, but so did the overall suicide rate. He concludes that, contrary to the claim made by the late Erwin Stengel, people did not switch to […]

The decline of the suicide rate in England & Wales following detoxification of domestic gas has been used as evidence that crime can be prevented by reducing criminal opportunities. The present study investigates the seemingly lesser effect of detoxification on Scotland & The Netherlands. The authors conclude that the fall in suicide resulting from detoxification […]

~

This article details the sudden decline of suicide rates in England from 1963 to 1975 as carbon monoxide was progressively removed from the public gas supply. Statistics by age & sex are outlined. The authors assert that few of those prevented from using gas have found another way to commit suicide. This finding strengthens the […]