Reduced access to pesticides can prevent suicides

The use of pesticides to commit suicide presents an unexpected risk to pesticide companies who could potentially face restrictions on the sale of their product. Reducing accessibility could help minimise the risk for all concerned.

In 2008, Sri Lanka delivered an unexpected blow to the pesticide industry. The country’s Pesticides Technical Advisory Committee withdrew certain pesticides such as “paraquat”, “fenthion” and “dimethoate” from the market. However, unlike previous pesticide restrictions, this decision was not based on toxicity to the environment and people but on evidence that these chemicals were being used by Sri Lankans to kill themselves.

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) first-ever global report on suicide prevention that was published in September this year, draws attention to the scale of the pesticide suicide problem. The WHO report estimates that pesticides alone are responsible for around 30% of global suicide cases, which would amount to over 240,000 people in 2012 alone. This is particularly prevalent in low and middle-income countries, where a large proportion of the rural population is engaged in small-scale agriculture.

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