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
FOLLOW UP POST: Searching for Answers or Following a Trend?
26 responses so far ↓
1 Nick Ramsay // May 3, 2008 at 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!.
2 billywest // May 3, 2008 at 11:47 pm
Yes.
3 Daniel Hallas // May 4, 2008 at 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
4 Ken Y-N // May 4, 2008 at 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 ??????????? (or whatever the recommended wording is) sign to complete the suicide recipie. I’ll blog on this too.
5 Bloomberg tells readers how to kill themselves! » 世論 What Japan Thinks // May 4, 2008 at 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 […]
6 Tudza // May 4, 2008 at 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?
7 Julian // May 4, 2008 at 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.
8 Shane // May 4, 2008 at 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.
9 Ken Y-N // May 4, 2008 at 11:44 pm
Ahh, they’ve updated the story to remove the links! Did they contact you Shane about this?
10 Weekend News // May 5, 2008 at 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 […]
11 Shane // May 5, 2008 at 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!
12 Nick Ramsay // May 5, 2008 at 1:36 pm
The little guy has a voice, and this is what happens when he uses it! Good work everyone!
13 Brad // May 6, 2008 at 7:13 am
Anyone having taken Junior High School chemistry should already know this top secret formula…
14 Ramsay Ramblings 5/6/2008 « LongCountdown.com // May 6, 2008 at 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 […]
15 Miscellaneous news for 7th May 2008 » 世論 What Japan Thinks // May 7, 2008 at 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 […]
16 Kurt // May 12, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Waaaaaa Waaaaaaa, make the bad men take the recipie away.
Jesus, people. Get a life.
17 Shane // May 12, 2008 at 9:58 pm
Kurt;
I do have a life and I respect the life of others. This has become somewhat of a trendy way to kill yourself in Japan and a lot of innocent people are being harmed or killed as a result. If people want to kill themselves it is their decision but by publishing the recipe Bloomberg was not only enabling those people, they were risking the health and welfare of others which I find unacceptable.
18 Shane (not A typical Life Shane) // May 12, 2008 at 10:14 pm
You cannot protect stupid people from themselves.
These are the same people that force companies to put “Do Not Take Your Hairdryer Into the Bathtub” warnings on their product… and sue McDonalds because they’re too clumsy to handle a cup of coffee.
I say.. let evolution work it out.
19 Shane // May 12, 2008 at 10:25 pm
UPDATE - The article in question is no longer accesable at all.
I received an automated response from the Bloomberg contact from but the link provided to their response led me to a blank page (numerous times).
The article in question was here: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=auvA7_lgZe.w
A search of Bloomgerg’s site for Japan Suicide does not even bring up the article in question (corrected or not):
http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=japan+suicide&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date%3AD%3AS%3Ad1&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=submit
20 southofreality // May 13, 2008 at 1:48 am
For those leaving the sarcastic comments, use your brain. Not everyone has read the warning label on bottles of bleach and/or ammonia. And, not everyone has taken a high school chemisitry class. If it was such common knowlegde, it wouldn’t have been printed in the first place. The point is that there was no reason to actually print the recipie in the story. Even one person influenced it is too many.
Usually, I like sarcasm. But, the sarcasm exhibited in some of these comments makes it easy to understand why many people think it’s the lowest form of wit.
21 Bunky // May 13, 2008 at 4:12 am
You guys are tards. If people want to kill themselves, let ‘em. I’m posting the original amounts on Google Groups.
22 Searching for Answers or Following a Trend? « A typical Life // May 13, 2008 at 6:19 am
[…] or “how to make hydrogen sulfide”. This is the result of my post titled “Bloomberg Publishes Suicide Gas Recipe” where I, with some help from my friend Nick and fellow blogger Ken at What Japan Thinks, […]
23 billywest // May 13, 2008 at 10:57 am
Hey, Bunky. Way to call someone a tard when you failed to read the part where innocent bystanders were also being injured or killed by the gas. We’d be lucky if one of your neighbors tried this, eh?
24 Hydrogen Sulphide Suicides In Japan | Neil Duckett // May 13, 2008 at 2:15 pm
[…] ever increasing topic in the news and blogs around Japan these days is suicide by inhaling Hydrogen Sulphide made from household […]
25 Searching for Answers or Following a Trend? // May 20, 2008 at 10:15 am
[…] or “how to make hydrogen sulfide”. This is the result of my post titled “Bloomberg Publishes Suicide Gas Recipe” where I, with some help from my friend Nick and fellow blogger Ken at What Japan Thinks, […]
26 Searching for Answers or Following a Trend? « A typical Life // May 20, 2008 at 7:22 pm
[…] or “how to make hydrogen sulfide”. This is the result of my post titled “Bloomberg Publishes Suicide Gas Recipe” where I, with some help from my friend Nick and fellow blogger Ken at What Japan Thinks, […]
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