Japan seeks to curb the use of hydrogen sulphide gas as a means to commit
suicide. 

(ASIA) HOKKAIDO, JAPAN (MAY 1, 2008) NTV - 

Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in northern
Japan on Thursday (May 1) over fears about hydrogen sulphide gas released by a
man who used it to commit suicide. 
    A family member called emergency services after finding the 24-year-old
man who collapsed at his home in the city of Otaru on the northern island of
Hokkaido in the early hours of the morning, local police said.
    He was taken to hospital but later declared dead.
    The man's 58-year-old mother was also taken to hospital suffering from
the effects of the gas, the police spokesman said.
    About 350 people were evacuated in the from their homes to a local
primary school so they would not inhale the toxic fumes. 
    "People told me to evacuate immediately so I came here," said
one neighbor in the midst of the evacuation. 
    The neighbors who evacuated, were allowed to return home later.
    Suicides by hydrogen sulphide, which can be made from household
detergent, are a growing problem in Japan. At least 40 cases have been
reported this year, public broadcaster NHK said last month, citing the Japan
Suicide Prevention Association.
    "People who commit suicide initially mention that they don't want
to bother others when they die, but as their feelings get stronger, they tend
to use whatever that's most accessible to them," Yuzou Katou, Director of
Suicide Prevention Center, told Reuters at the suicide call centre in Tokyo.
"The scariest thing about hydrogen sulphide gas suicide is that people
can easily die from mixing household detergents and most people know about it
already." 
    Japan has the second-highest suicide rate in the Group of Eight nations
after Russia, according to the World Health Organisation.
    The annual number of suicides has been above 30,000 for nine years in a
row, police figures showed last year.
    "Similar suicides can happen in any cities like Nagoya or Osaka
because people share the same information and culture through the
internet," said Katou.
    The National Police Agency this week urged Internet service providers
to delete information from websites about how to make hydrogen sulphide, which
is touted as "an easy way to die".