Japan tackles suicide gas with low-tech tool

Hydrogen sulphide gas can be produced from householddetergents and there have been scores of cases of the fumesbeing used by people taking their own lives this year, oftenusing instructions posted on the Internet.

The new gadget uses a fan to draw the gas through a plasticbox containing activated carbon, a porous form of charcoal,said the Osaka city fire department, which developed thegadget.

An experiment at a suicide site this week removed all thepoison gas in 30 minutes, a fire department spokesman said.

Previously those living near the scene of a gas suicidewere forced to evacuate for long periods to allow fumes todisperse.

The apparatus, which can be made mostly from everydayitems, costs less than 10,000 yen (48 pounds), the firedepartment said.

"We are offering this information because we think it couldbe of use all over the country," the spokesman said.

Japan has the second-highest suicide rate among majorindustrialised countries after Russia. The annual number ofsuicides has been above 30,000 for a decade, government figuresshow.

The government has pledged to cut the number of suicides by2016, including by raising society's awareness of depression.

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; editing by Sophie Hardach)