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International Journal of Social Psychiatry
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Does ‘No Pesticide’ Reduce Suicides?

Lakshmi Vijayakumar

SNEHA and Voluntary Health Services, Adyar, Chennai, India, dr_svk{at}vsnl.com

R. Satheesh-Babu

Mamata Medical College, Khammam, India

Introduction: Ingestion of pesticides is the most common method of suicide, particularly in China, Sri Lanka and India. Reported pesticide suicides in India numbered 22,000 in the year 2006.z

Method: Four villages in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India that had stopped using chemical pesticides in favour of non-pesticide management (NPM) were visited to assess any change in suicide incidence before and after discontinuation of chemical pesticides. Four similar villages in the same region that continued to use chemical pesticides were used as controls for comparison.

Results: In the pesticide-free villages there were 14 suicides before introduction of NPM and only three suicides thereafter. The percentage of suicides not reported to authorities was 47%.

Conclusion: Restriction of pesticide availability and accessibility by NPM has the potential to reduce pesticide suicides, in addition to psychosocial and health interventions.

Key Words: suicide • pesticide • non-pesticide management (NPM) • India

This version was published on September 1, 2009

International Journal of Social Psychiatry, Vol. 55, No. 5, 401-406 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0020764008095340
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