this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2023
58 points (96.8% liked)

Canada

7215 readers
441 users here now

What's going on Canada?



Communities


🍁 Meta


πŸ—ΊοΈ Provinces / Territories


πŸ™οΈ Cities / Local Communities


πŸ’ SportsHockey

Football (NFL)

  • List of All Teams: unknown

Football (CFL)

  • List of All Teams: unknown

Baseball

Basketball

Soccer


πŸ’» Universities


πŸ’΅ Finance / Shopping


πŸ—£οΈ Politics


🍁 Social and Culture


Rules

Reminder that the rules for lemmy.ca also apply here. See the sidebar on the homepage:

https://lemmy.ca


founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS
all 21 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Britain's National Crime Agency said it has identified 232 people in the U.K. who bought products from the websites in the two years until April, 88 of whom had died.

"at this early stage there are no confirmed links between the items purchased from the websites and cause of death in any of these cases."

I mean, that's a lot of people to have died by coincidence in under two years!

[–] Yendor 27 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I mean, the product is being sold as a way to commit suicide, so it’s hardly surprising that many of the people who bought it are now dead.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wait. What?? That's wild.

Is it possible that this was purchased with the intention of using it as a sports supplement, but mistakenly the wrong "nitrate" was purchased? Nitric Oxide is used in sports, sodium nitrite is often used for curing meat!

But then again, if this stuff is being used for suicide, then I'm sure it's easy to know whether those 88 dead people are linked.

[–] Yendor 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No, it’s not a mistake.

Details are withheld in the news articles to avoid promoting suicide, but this link gives some useful context: https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/toronto/2023/5/4/1_6384721.html

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

That makes my stomach turn.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I do recall that amazon had a kit on their site using the same chemical specifically targeted to kids ....

https://www.npr.org/2022/10/09/1127686507/amazon-suicide-teenagers-poison

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I learned this not too long ago, that too much can legit kill you. I saw a post on that other stupid site about a dude who stopped his girlfriend from doing some tik tok challenge about it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

I knew a couple of people who bought a pair of "exit bags" from a Canadian website.

[–] PaupersSerenade 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Oh wow, I believe this is referencing the same site as a video essay I recently watched. As someone who's struggled with ideation I've limited the research I've done, but this sounds like an awful trend. I don't believe you need Tor to access this site, but I could be wrong as reporting states vague

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/C3y6SsGAWks?si=qYKEO1CnYgvcoTV_

Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.

I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.

[–] can 1 points 1 year ago

You do not need tor. I found it with only a little digging.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

yeah they sound the same.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Was accidentally poisoned with sodium nitrite once. Can't imagine it would be a pleasant way to go.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Britain's National Crime Agency said it has identified 232 people in the U.K. who bought products from the websites in the two years until April, 88 of whom had died.

The agency said it was investigating whether any crimes had been committed in the U.K., but that "at this early stage there are no confirmed links between the items purchased from the websites and cause of death in any of these cases."

They are being supported by specially trained officers from police forces," said National Crime Agency Deputy Director Craig Turner.

The probe is part of international inquiries sparked by the arrest of Canadian Kenneth Law, who has been charged with two counts of counselling and aiding suicide.

Law is accused of using a series of websites to market and sell sodium nitrite, a substance commonly used to cure meats that can be deadly if ingested.

Authorities in the United States, Italy, Australia and New Zealand also have launched investigations.


The original article contains 242 words, the summary contains 160 words. Saved 34%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The article isn't really clear about what this mineral was purchased and marketed for. Was it curing meat specifically? In which case, how does this company's mineral differ from any other? Wouldn't it be the fault of the people mis handling it? What made this particular company's mineral especially dangerous?

[–] idkwhatimdoing 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The article says in the first sentence that the website was selling toxic compounds to people at risk of self harm, and explains after that "The probe is part of international inquiries sparked by the arrest of Canadian Kenneth Law, who has been charged with two counts of counselling and aiding suicide."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Huh. Guess I should actually read these things. Ty.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

It’s a good habit to get into.