A 24-year-old Japanese man killed himself by mixing laundry detergent and cleaning fluids, releasing noxious fumes into the air and forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people from their homes…

Around 350 people were forced to flee their homes to escape the poisonous fumes, thought to be hydrogen sulfide…

The suicides are seen as part of a spate of detergent-related deaths that experts say have been encouraged by Internet suicide sites since last summer.

Seiji Yoshikawa, deputy head of the Internet Hot Line, which operates under the guidelines of police, said the number of sites promoting detergent suicides soared in April. “They are rife on the Internet. Writing examples include ‘you can die easily and beautifully’ and ‘this is much easier than charcoal-burning suicide,” Yoshikawa said, referring to a once-popular suicide method…

Some sites reportedly provide “poison gas” warnings that viewers can print out and hang outside their doors when they kill themselves.

Now, that’s thoughtful.




  1. Ben says:

    We must ban detergent. Think of the children. I am sure that releasing noxious gases cause global climate change. Also terrorists could release this in the subway or something.

  2. Dallas says:

    Oh oh..This should make it to the White House population fear team as a “dirty bomb” potential likely to be concocted by terrorists.

    Oops, I meant a clean bomb alert.

  3. Koyo says:

    Maybe this is the next form of “weapons of mass destruction”? What happens when the fumes get into the air circulation systems of the building?

  4. Les says:

    The mixing of 2 common cleaners does it. I don’t know how many people I had to treat when they mix them.

  5. hhopper says:

    Maybe somebody should send the URL of one of these sites to Bush.

  6. kanjy says:

    “Around 350 people were forced to flee their homes to escape the poisonous fumes…”
    WTF… does this create some kind of super mega detergent death bomb? It’s a wonder that we don’t hear of such events, accidental or not, taking out an entire block or neighborhood of homes.

  7. chuck says:

    Imagine is someone takes this on a plane.
    No wonder Homeland Security won’t let you take liquids on board.
    I, for one, welcome our new TSA overlords.

  8. Ron Larson says:

    What a horrible way to die, burning your lungs out with hydrogen sulfite.

  9. MoparPower says:

    Death by smell. If I remember correctly that smells like a paper mill. aka rotten eggs

  10. Sea Lawyer says:

    #6, all you have to do is mix chlorine bleach and ammonia if you want to kill yourself or somebody else.

  11. eyeofthetiger says:

    I learned this in 4th grade. For a culture that is obsessed with suicide this should be a non-story. There are some really fucked up suicide cults in Japan.

  12. MotaMan says:

    #10

    correct.

    listen up loosers: AMMONIA and BLEACH

  13. OmegaMan says:

    If you outlaw cleaning chemicals…only outlaws will have nicely cleaned clothes!

  14. TheGlobalWarmer says:

    I fully support suicide cults. Strengthens the gene pool.

    #6 – That’s mis worded. They don’t have “homes” theres. They’re mostly packed together in apartments. If you’re properly urban sprawled, you couldn’t take out huge number like that.

  15. Jamie says:

    “Some sites reportedly provide “poison gas” warnings that viewers can print out and hang outside their doors when they kill themselves.”

    The Japanese leave warning signs to keep others away. Kinda like their attitude on their wacky “game shows” like Ninja Warrior. They lose in a painful and humiliating fashion, they say “dang, I’m sorry I disappointed my friends, I’ll try harder next time.” We Americans would line up a choice lawsuit instead.

  16. JudyB says:

    Detergent is really not good. And because it is a petrochemical, it costs a fortune. Last I looked, some brands were hitting $17 a gallon because of the high cost of oil.

    I found this patented new technology to replace the detergents. I have used it for 5 months and it works brilliantly. It is at http://www.magneticlaundry.com

    I can’t opt out of paying $4 per gallon at the gas pump, but at least i’m not paying $17 a gallon for petrochemicals at the grocery store!


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