More Than 50% of College Students Felt Suicidal

BOSTON -- A comprehensive study of suicidal thinking among college students found more than half of the 26,000 surveyed had suicidal thoughts at some point during their lifetime. The web-based survey conducted in spring 2006 used separate samples of undergraduate and graduate students from 70 colleges and universities across the country.

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'Detergent Suicide': Deadly Fad Rattles Japan
A 34-year-old man tried to kill himself by drinking pesticide. He was rushed to a hospital in southern Japan, where workers feverishly pumped his stomach, trying to save his life.

The man vomited--and that released toxic fumes which sickened more than 50 people, including doctors, patients and hospital workers.

The man later died.

90 hospital personnel had to be called in to help with the emergency Wednesday night, said Tomoko Nagao, spokeswoman for the Red Cross Kumamoto Hospital in southern Japan.

The man's toxic vomit contained Chloropicrin a highly volatile pesticide with a pungent odor that can cause breathing difficulties and sometimes death when inhaled in large amounts.

Seishi Takamura, a doctor who treated the farmer, said he could not stop coughing after inhaling the fumes, which smelled like chlorine, Kyodo News agency reported.

A different kind of toxic gas suicide has made headlines recently across the country. More than 130 people have killed themselves by mixing store-bought detergent and chemicals.

Japan already has one of the highest suicide rates in the world. The number of suicides reached 30,000 in 1998 and has not gone below that number for nine consecutive years. According to a recent survey by the Cabinet Office, one in five Japanese adults has considered suicide.

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