Troubling Rise in Suicides Linked With Common Food Preservative
July 18, 2022
A recent increase in fatal sodium nitrite poisonings has some health experts calling for stricter regulation of the substance. Sodium nitrite is a white salt commonly used in curing meat. But in recent years, it’s also being used as a poison in suicides.
Ontario has seen at least 28 sodium nitrite poisoning deaths between 1980 and 2020, with most happening in the last two years of that period. Alberta Health Service’s poison center, which also serves the Northwest Territories and Saskatchewan, saw at least two sodium nitrite poisonings causing serious harm last year, and two more this year.
These numbers are likely an undercount because Canada does not collect comprehensive data about sodium nitrite poisoning.
Toxicovigilance Canada, a poison control network led by Health Canada, was unable to share national figures, citing “no national data from medical examiners, coroners or poison centers.” Poison centers also do not have a clear picture of the problem because it’s not mandatory for healthcare workers to pass along information about the poisonings they treat.
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https://neurosciencenews.com/sodium-nitrate-suicide-21065/*****Some of us (on Facebook) have talked about food preservatives in the past, compared to what we grew up with in the 50's and 60's when there was very little food preservatives. Now it looks as if we were right, trying to buy foods without preservatives according to this article*****
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