Bloomberg Publishes Suicide Gas Recipe
Today while surfing the web I came across an article on Bloomberg that was reporting on a recent trend of suicides utilizing a gas called hydrogen sulfide. This is a serious concern in Japan as innocent bystanders have been injured by these gas fumes. As a matter of ethics I will not provide a direct link to the article but here are two excerpts that together concern me:
“Japan’s National Police Agency called on Internet service providers to remove information on the subject.”
This statement was followed later in the article by the following
“The gas is made using around four liters….” again I will not continue with the quote due to ethical concerns. Suffice it to say that they not only provided the recipe but also provided links to the product pages! I was horrified and appalled!
I have sent an email to Bloomberg via their online contact form and have emailed the authors of the article the following:
I am appalled to see that Bloomberg published the article “Toilet Cleaner, Bath Liquid Spark New Wave of Suicides in Japan” by Sachiko Sakamaki and Stuart Biggs.
While this article notes that “Japan’s National Police Agency called on Internet service providers to remove information on the subject.”, referring to the recipe for the poisonous gas utilized in these suicides, it goes on to publish the recipe in the name of reporting. Links are even provided to the web pages for the products required to create this suicide gas.
This is nothing short of sensational journalism and I consider the publication of this article by Bloomberg to be completely irresponsible!
While reporting on this suicide trend is appropriate I would suggest that you review your editorial policy that allows for the “how to manual” to be included in this article.
A disappointed reader,
Shane Sakata
I am not an social activist in any sense of the word and this is not something that I would normally do but I feel very strongly about this and would encourage anyone who is reading this to do some research and let Bloomberg know what you think about what they consider newsworthy and their editorial process here: Bloomberg Feedback
If you need assistance finding the article in question please leave a comment and I will send you the link privately.
More (reputable) news on this trend:
CNN Article : Spate of ‘detergent suicides’ hits Japan
Commentary from 7:10 To Tokyo:
A Legacy of Self-Brutality - Latest Japan Suicide Trend
on 3 May, 2008 on 3:11 pm
I’ve emailed Bloomberg, so that makes two of us.
This article has also been JapanSoc’ed, Stumbled, Dugg and Blogging Zoomed.
Let’s make sure Bloomberg know we disapprove!.
on 3 May, 2008 on 11:47 pm
Yes.
on 4 May, 2008 on 3:54 am
Hi,
I am doing some research on this subject and would like to review the Bloomberg article you have mentioned.
Thank you in advance,
Daniel
on 4 May, 2008 on 2:26 pm
Bloody hell, they even publish the brand names and link to the web site! They just needed a link to a big 毒ガス発生！立入厳禁！ (or whatever the recommended wording is) sign to complete the suicide recipie. I’ll blog on this too.
on 4 May, 2008 on 2:46 pm
[...] at A Typical Life reports that Bloomberg has published a story detailing the recipie for hydrogen sulphide, the poison gas that has become all the rage for people doing themselves in, but a method of [...]
on 4 May, 2008 on 3:14 pm
Oh come on, every bottle of bleach says right on it “Don’t mix with ammonia” you gonna write and complain about that too?
on 4 May, 2008 on 5:19 pm
I recommend you to remove the quotes as well. Within seconds I was able to identify the whereabouts of the artilcle using google.
on 4 May, 2008 on 6:26 pm
I appreciate all of the support on this.
While I know it’s not hard to figure out how to kill yourself Tudza I think it is completely irresponsible for a major news outlet to provide the recipe.
Julian, in some ways I want people to find the article so they can confirm what I am saying and provide feedback to Bloomberg if they agree. But I want to make them work for it like you did. It’s an odd balance that I am trying to strike here and I appreciate your concern.
on 4 May, 2008 on 11:44 pm
Ahh, they’ve updated the story to remove the links! Did they contact you Shane about this?
on 5 May, 2008 on 4:17 am
[...] Bloomberg publishes the recipe to make Hydrogen Sulfide Shane over at A Typical Life stumbled across an article on Bloomberg that was reporting on the current wave of suicides in Japan using Hydrogen Sulfide. What they did next is a bit shocking from such a reputable source. They not only gave the recipe to create the deadly gas, they even linked to an online shopping site where you can get everything needed. When Japanese police are asking ISP’s to take down the recipes found on Japanese websites, Bloomberg makes the situation even worse. A Typical Life via What Japan Thinks [...]
on 5 May, 2008 on 6:35 am
Count this as one for the little guy! With much thanks to Nick, (http://www.japansoc.com/), Ken (http://whatjapanthinks.com/) and others for helping to spread the word on this I am pleased to report that the article was corrected. These words now appear at the top of the article:
“(Corrects to delete quantities used in materials in 10th and 11th paragraphs in story published May 2.)”
Thanks again to everyone for your support - I literally couldn’t have done it without you!
on 5 May, 2008 on 1:36 pm
The little guy has a voice, and this is what happens when he uses it! Good work everyone!
on 6 May, 2008 on 7:13 am
Anyone having taken Junior High School chemistry should already know this top secret formula…
on 6 May, 2008 on 11:02 pm
[...] household cleaning chemicals that people have been using to kill themselves in Japan lately. Shane kicked up a storm and we all pitched in. In the end, Bloomberg edited the dangerous parts of the article, so hooray [...]
on 7 May, 2008 on 10:57 pm
[...] would say thanks to Bloomberg, but I don’t think they deserve it. I posted on Sunday about Shane’s tale of the poison gas recipe, and I see they’ve now updated their story to remove the unnecessarily-detailed information [...]