I had no idea how few reported deaths there were by sodium nitrite accidental or on purpose

[Tintypographer]

I have really been looking at skewed headlines related to "alarming increases" in deaths by suicide related to "suicide kits" containing nitrite compounds obtained through the "dark web" or forums like sanctioned suicide. To believe @fixthe26 there is a multimillion dollar death system in place complete with distribution as powerful as the illicit drug trade in the US.

First, the requirements for an autopsy vary by state but in the USA all states require a cause of death for burial and formalization of death certificate and closure of accounts etc. In every state, a death without cause will require an autopsy and in every state, suicide requires a cause of death. This case of death can be public record if it is a matter of public health or it can be public record if there is a criminal investigation. For suicide it is a sufficient gray area that the cause of death may not be disclosed for the confidentiality of surviving family members. But in the case of poisoning, the death is reported in data to the national poison control center. Anecdotally we hear about larger numbers of cases of this poisoning both here on the sanctioned suicide website and through cries of alarm.
Below is an image taken from a screenshot of the national poison control center toxicology database for the united states in 2020. It has a total of 9 reported poisonings by this chemical in 2020. The link to this report is here:

https://piper.filecamp.com/uniq/7mZak8kuCluTHbsK.pdf

The 2019 report has a total of 11 reported cases of sodium nitrite poisoning in the USA.

A slightly more alarming number is in 2018 when there were 27 reported poisonings related to sodium nitrite and 3 of these poisonings were 19 years of age or younger.

There is more data back in 2017 and prior on the number of poisonings and I'll plot this and give YOY details but one critical point for @kelli and @fixthe26 is that in the USA, there is not an "alarming increase in the poisonings by sodium nitrite" there is in fact a critically important decrease in the national poison control database for this chemical. Hopefully their narrative will take this factual data into perspective. the 2021 data will be out soon through the poison control center.


It's actually 24 in 2017 and 22 in 2016 so there was a spike in 2018 but there is not an alarming increase occurring in the US.

Interestingly, the number of deaths is way below the poisoning by rattlesnake bites. And way below that of scorpion stings.

Those toxic poisons are not freely available on the internet but represent a much higher danger in total number of poisonings than the "disturbing increase in sodium nitrite"

@kelli and @fixthe26 I did send a link of that data in nitrite poisoning to senators through your link letting them know that the concerns are not quite as strong as everyone thought. I'm sure that's just a mistaken assumption on your part.

 

[Tintypographer]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://med.virginia.edu/toxicology/wp-content/uploads/sites/268/2021/05/May21-Sodium-nitrite.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiLwMra6PD1AhXck2oFHTBpC0IQFnoECBoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1Ml_BifHnnebjdM_vxuGX5

Still finding data on less than 50 total poisoning cases for 2021. It's being called an "epidemic" and a "growing trend" but the USA reports in toxicology and ER.centers are not supporting the idea that this is a wave of deaths. I think that's a good thing and perhaps we can work to illustrate the need for better access to mental healthcare, better understanding of suicidal ideation and better support rather than alarmist attacks.

 

[Tintypographer]

Further details in a first of it's kind study on poisonings that include death in ER cases in north America published in the journal of the American Medical Association

Incidence and Lethality of Suicidal Overdoses by Drug Class

Ted R. Miller, PhD, David I. Swedler, PhD, [...], and Jennifer Leonardo, PhD

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7090840/bin/jamanetwopen-3-e200607-s001.pdf

The second link is the supplementary tables that detail the poisonings and attempted suicides and fatalities by class of drug.

First, the highest percentage of these cases are not lethal.

Second, there was no mention of sodium nitrite in the literature and there is a category of cases that are "unnamed poison or drug" which either sodium nitrite was left out or placed in this class. There could be a gross misrepresentation of the data where they deliberately left this out but I have my doubts.

The supplementary materials has a table that shows the drug.or poison and number of cases.

There is also a breakdown of age and gender for each poisoning and outcome.

Again, Sodium Nitrite is not anywhere near the "overwhelming" wave of cases of suicide attempts or poisonings and is far from a health crisis considering the other very high percentage cases. Simply refuting the @fixthe26 narrative with some facts that are not tweeted on their version of events.