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Amazon is sued for 'selling suicide kits to teenagers': Parents of Ohio girl, 16, and West Virginia boy, 17, accuse online retail giant of assisting in their deaths by selling sodium nitrate - a fatal food preservative that 'is as deadly as cyanide'
Daily Mail UK ^ | October 10, 2021 | Harriet Alexander

Posted on 10/10/2022 8:24:34 PM PDT by Morgana

Two families whose teenage children died by suicide using a chemical bought on Amazon are suing the tech giant, accusing the company of knowingly selling a dangerous enabler.

Kristine Jonsson, 16, of Hilliard, Ohio, took her own life on September 30, 2020, while Ethan McCarthy, 17, of Milton, West Virginia, died by suicide on January 7, 2021.

The families are not connected, but both contracted the same Brooklyn law firm.

Both teenagers killed themselves using sodium nitrite - a chemical used to preserve foods but lethal in high doses - which they had bought on Amazon.

The drug is promoted online on suicide forums and in books. A small amount dissolved in water is fatal, and causes an excruciating death.

'Amazon is selling a product that is as deadly as cyanide,' said Carrie Goldberg and Naomi Leeds, two attorneys for the families, who filed their case on September 29 in California state court.

hey note that Amazon's online recommendations suggest that customers who purchased the chemical also buy a scale to measure the correct dose, an anti-vomiting drug and Amazon's edition of a handbook on assisted suicide.

'This is different from them selling rope, knives, or other implements that can be used for death because there is no household use for [sodium nitrite] at the level of purity (98-99%) it sells it.'

An Amazon spokesman told DailyMail.com: 'Sodium nitrite is not intended for consumption, and unfortunately, like many products, it can be misused.'

The Jonsson family said Kristine was a happy, healthy high school student and talented artist, who was 'extremely intelligent and focused'.

She lived with her parents and two younger siblings, Daniel and Katherine, and loved playing board games with the family.

But when the pandemic hit, she became withdrawn and depressed.

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Food; Health/Medicine
KEYWORDS: 2022election; districtofcolumbia; election2022; fakenews; genderdysphoria; homosexualagenda; jeffbezos; notcyanide; prolife; sodiumnitrite; washingtoncompost; washingtonpost
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1 posted on 10/10/2022 8:24:34 PM PDT by Morgana
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To: Morgana

Wow.


2 posted on 10/10/2022 8:30:20 PM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: Morgana

There are numerous items that you can purchase online that are lethal if ingested, in fact, there are even more such items available at any hardware or feed store. This is yet another thinly veiled First Amendment attack.


3 posted on 10/10/2022 8:30:25 PM PDT by granite (The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left.Ecclesiastes 10:2)
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To: Morgana

Suicide is tragic and you have to feel for the families, but this is just going after a deep pocket. It’s not justice. Hopefully it doesn’t lead to chemicals from being banned, restricted, or tracked. There are legitimate uses for sodium nitrate, but that doesn’t matter to people who are afraid of their own shadows and look to government to protect them from just about everything.


4 posted on 10/10/2022 8:33:34 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA ( Scratch a leftist and you'll find a fascist )
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To: ConservativeInPA

What I’m wondering, and was hoping someone here could give the answer, is what on earth gave them the idea to use that in the first place? Most kids when they try it either use pills or try to hang themselves.

Using Sodium nitrate? This is the first I’ve ever heard of such a thing. This was well thought out and shows they meant to die.


5 posted on 10/10/2022 8:39:13 PM PDT by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor. )
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To: granite

“There are numerous items that you can purchase online that are lethal if ingested, in fact, there are even more such items available at any hardware or feed store.”

*Water*, which you can get out of your tap at home, is lethal if ingested in sufficient quantities. It’s also lethal if inhaled in much smaller quantities!

BAN dihydrogen monoxide!!! (sigh)


6 posted on 10/10/2022 8:42:16 PM PDT by PreciousLiberty (Make America Greater Than Ever!)
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To: Morgana

I just did a search. Check Reddit, there’s a bunch of threads on it.


7 posted on 10/10/2022 8:42:51 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA ( Scratch a leftist and you'll find a fascist )
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To: Morgana

Nope...no way. This is yet another case of a slimy lawyers looking for a big,and easy,payday.


8 posted on 10/10/2022 8:43:26 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (I Miss Jimmy Carter)
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To: ConservativeInPA

what exactly did you search?


9 posted on 10/10/2022 8:44:17 PM PDT by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor. )
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To: Morgana
They got the idea from the book that Commizon recommend they buy as well.

Going to buy sodium nitrite we recommend you also buy this book that will tell you how to use it.

A cook book maybe? Nah, a book about how to kill yourself.

10 posted on 10/10/2022 8:45:35 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (The nation of france was named after a hedgehog... The hedgehog's name was Kevin... Don't ask)
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To: PreciousLiberty

I have a better one, ban monosodium glutamate


11 posted on 10/10/2022 8:45:57 PM PDT by Morgana ( Always a bit of truth in dark humor. )
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To: Morgana

Sodium nitrate suicide … I use DuckDuckGo


12 posted on 10/10/2022 8:48:09 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA ( Scratch a leftist and you'll find a fascist )
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To: Morgana

I’m checking out of my senses, buying best defenses
Fired up on free-will, hang up, hang up, hang up


13 posted on 10/10/2022 8:51:30 PM PDT by struggle
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To: ConservativeInPA

I checked your search and it’s not there.


14 posted on 10/10/2022 9:06:09 PM PDT by nwrep
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To: nwrep

Correction, I use Brave as my default search engine on my phone … not on my computer at the moment. There’s a bunch of results


15 posted on 10/10/2022 9:10:47 PM PDT by ConservativeInPA ( Scratch a leftist and you'll find a fascist )
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To: Morgana

It’s a good precursor to nitric acid which is an essential precursor to all sorts of home defense substances.


16 posted on 10/10/2022 9:15:35 PM PDT by from occupied ga (Your government is your most dangerous enemy - EVs a solution for which there is no problem)
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To: Morgana

$1 worth of table salt killed this young lady:


https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2796.2004.01411.x
[A 20-year-old previously healthy woman was diagnosed of suffering of postpartum depression 2 weeks following delivery of her first child. Antidepressive fluoxetine treatment was initiated by her family doctor. Concomitantly, the patient participated, in her family’s advice, in a local ceremony of ‘exorcism’. During this act the patient was ordered to drink large amounts of salty water. Reportedly, the patient drank six glasses of a mixture of 1 kg table salt in a litre of water.

Eleven hours later, the women became lethargic and apathetic and developed a general convulsive episode. On arrival to the emergency department, the patient was deeply unconscious, with a blood pressure of 110/60, respiratory rate of 15, heart rate of 120, and temperature of 36 °C. The estimated Glasgow coma scale score was 5. Breathing was shallow. Pulmonary, cardiac and abdominal examinations were normal. Other than the severely impaired consciousness, neurological examination was unremarkable, with reactive pupils, no evidence of meningeal irritation, normal, intact tonus of all four limbs, and normal, symmetrical reflexes.

Admission serum sodium level was 255 mmol L−1, with identical results noted in three repeated blood examinations. Serum sodium level was also determined by a separate laboratory, yielding similar results. Also noted were mild renal failure (creatinine of 138 μmol L−1), hyperuricaemia (569 μmol L−1) and mildly elevated lactic acid levels (3.19 mmol L−1). Complete blood count and the rest of the biochemistry results were within normal range. TSH level was normal, and blood levels of alcohol, acetaminophen, tricyclic antidepressants and lithium were undetectable. Urinary toxic screen and gastric lavage toxic screen were repeatedly negative. Chest radiography, head CT and lumbar puncture were unremarkable. Blood and urine cultures were taken and were later demonstrated to be sterile.

The patient was intubated and admitted to the ICU. Despite full intensive treatment and aggressive hypotonic fluid resuscitation the patient rapidly deteriorated and died a few hours after arrival. Postmortem examination did not recognize any pathological finding that would explain the patient’s presentation and eventual death, other than fatal hypernatraemia.]


17 posted on 10/10/2022 9:16:28 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (My dad had a Delta 88. That was a car. It was like driving your living room)
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To: Morgana
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33074043/ Sodium nitrite is a powerful oxidizing agent that causes hypotension and limits oxygen transport and delivery in the body through the formation of methemoglobin. Clinical manifestations can include cyanosis, hypoxia, altered consciousness, dysrhythmias, and death. The majority of reports on sodium nitrite poisonings have been the result of unintentional exposures. We report a case of an intentional fatal overdose of sodium nitrite. A 17-year-old female reportedly drank approximately one tablespoon of sodium nitrite in a self-harm attempt. The patient was hypotensive and cyanotic upon EMS arrival. The patient decompensated rapidly into a bradycardic arrest during transport despite intubation, push-dose epinephrine, and intravenous fluid resuscitation. In the Emergency Department (ED), she received methylene blue and packed red cells but could not be resuscitated despite a prolonged effort. EMS professionals should consider sodium nitrite toxicity in patients with a suspected overdose who present with a cyanotic appearance, pulse oximetry that remains around 85% despite oxygen, and dark brown blood seen on venipuncture. Early prehospital contact with the Poison Control Center and ED prenotification in poisoned patients is encouraged.
18 posted on 10/10/2022 9:20:42 PM PDT by heartwood (Someone has to play devil's advoccarpetbagate.)
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To: Morgana
article: "She lived with her parents and two younger siblings, Daniel and Katherine, and loved playing board games with the family. But when the pandemic hit, she became withdrawn and depressed."

Boo hoo hoo. Toughen up, cupcakes. Read something like the the diaries from the siege of Leningrad, say Tanya Savicheva s diary. Now there was a real lockdown. Or read other wartime diaries like Anne Frank, or Rutka Laskier. Read those and you will never whine again.

Teenage girl in a first world country can't engage in gossip and mindless chitcha with her friends for a few months. Oh the humanity!

19 posted on 10/10/2022 10:01:50 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie (LORD, grant thy people grace to withstand the temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil.)
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To: Morgana

Yeah, but very few repeat sales.

CC


20 posted on 10/10/2022 10:03:05 PM PDT by Celtic Conservative (My cats are more amusing than 200 channels worth of TV.)
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