International restrictions on the use of toxic pesticides may have a major impact on world suicide rates, according to new research from Bristol University.
Published in the International Journal of Epidemiology , the research by Bristol academic David Gunnell and colleagues from the South Asian Clinical Toxicology Research Collaboration in Sri Lanka found that Sri Lanka's introduction of import restrictions on the most toxic pesticides was followed by marked reductions in the country's suicide rates. Other factors that affect suicide rates such as unemployment, alcohol misuse, divorce and war did not appear to be associated with these declines.