Suicide by sodium nitrite, a chemical compound used in preserving meats, fertilizers, and other applications, has been increasing—but poison centers are missing these cases, a new study found.
The new study, led by medical examiners, found that the number of suicides caused by sodium nitrite reported by medical examinations is significantly higher than the number reported by poison centers.
The authors analyzed reports from two medical examiner jurisdictions in New York and found almost as many cases of sodium nitrite suicide as those reported in the entire national database.
“Although national poison data estimated 13 to 20 deaths from 2019 and 2020, our findings confirmed 11 in our local jurisdictions alone,” the authors wrote….