Chemical Suicides, Popular in Japan, Are Increasing in the U.S. (Published 2011)Chemical Suicides, Popular in Japan, Are Increasing in the U.S. In Japan it is known as detergent suicide, a near-instant death achieved by mixing common household chemicals into a poisonous cloud of gas. By some counts, more than 2,000 people there have taken their own lives, inhaling the gas — in most cases hydrogen sulfide — in cars, closets or other enclosed spaces. The police now say they are
