Lindsey Pearlman, an Empire actress, died of sodium nitrite poisoning in February and wasn’t the only one. A common food preservative that can have fatal consequences when ingested in large amounts, the substance was sold by Amazon as part of an alarming trend, causing officials to scramble and family members of victims to sue Amazon.
Her body was found five days after she was last seen at home in February
After a five-day search, Lindsey Pearlman’s body was found in her car on Feb. 13, authorities said. People magazine learned this week that Pearlman died of sodium nitrite poisoning despite family members’ claims her death was a suicide. 43 was just a young age for her.
Sodium nitrite is a substance that authorities around the globe are working to keep out of the hands of vulnerable people, despite Pearlman’s death. Many people have poisoned themselves by consuming nitrites and nitrates in poison centers across the United States. Online access to sodium nitrate led to 166 percent more fatalities in 2021 than in 2018.
Amazon was urged in an open letter by seven members of Congress to limit the sale of sodium nitrite to individuals the same month Pearlman died. According to The New York Times, the “easy and swift availability” of the compound to vulnerable people was a “grave concern.”
Read More:- Anne Heche Is In Coma After Crashing Her Car Into Her Los Angeles Home
A three-day delivery option was available on Amazon’s website Tuesday for sodium nitrite. Doctors and authorities are concerned about this ease of access.
Sodium nitrite is manufactured to be a curing salt that preserves meat, but it’s not something most individuals need, wrote Dr. Kyle Pires in Clinical Toxicology last year.
According to Pires, a 28-year-old woman died after being poisoned by sodium nitrite she bought on Amazon.
It is recommended that all hospitals have methylene blue antidotes on hand in case someone dies
Dr. Pires told The New York Times in February that limiting the sale of something that’s legal because some people are killing themselves is a slippery slope. Doctors said only a few hobbyists use the chemical for curing meat, while a growing number of people use it to kill themselves.
Some hobbyists use this chemical to cure meat at home, while others, including teenagers, kill themselves with it,” Pires noted. I find it easy to calculate.”
Numerous doctors, like Pires, report sodium nitrite is one of the fastest-growing methods of suicide in the United States. U.K. officials say they have made efforts to limit the sale of the chemical to individuals.
Mike Keay, the chairman of Metalchem, told The Daily Beast in an email Tuesday that Metalchem stopped selling the chemical in 2020 as a result of people using it to commit suicide. Many European sellers agreed to halt sales as well after he informed them of the dangers, but Britons can still order the chemical from abroad.
Keay said, “I was horrified.”. “Our private individual sales have been stopped as buyers simply lie about their motivations.”
The chemical is now only sold after it has been mixed and cannot be consumed easily, Keay explains. The substance can still be used in marine aquariums to grow coral, as well as for meat curing.
According to a study released last year, sodium nitrite was blamed for the suicides of 23 people in Ontario, Canada, between 2019 and 2020.
Sodium nitrite caused the death of a 27-year-old son last year. Amazon is being sued by his mother. In response to The Daily Beast’s questions on Tuesday, the company did not respond.
Sodium nitrite has been labeled “suicide powder” by lawyers for the grieving mother, Ruth Scott. She is suing Amazon for “profiting off vulnerable people dying by suicide” by selling the compound to them.
