ArticleBMC public health2020
Emerging pesticides responsible for suicide in rural Sri Lanka following the 2008-2014 pesticide bans.
Article in BMC public health, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 27 citations in OpenAlex.
- Paraquat at 63-the story of a controversial herbicide and its regulations: It is time to put people and public health first when regulating paraquat.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Importance of pesticides for lethal poisoning in India during 1999 to 2018: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2021Pooled it
- Suicide Prevention and the Sustainable Development Goals: The Case of Bangladesh.Public health challenges · 2026Article
- Multidimensional characterization of heterogeneity in pesticide co-exposure patterns.Frontiers in chemistry · 2026Article
- Trends of poisoning types in Sri Lanka: descriptive analysis of hospital admissions data 2004-2019.BMC public health · 2025Observational
- Situational analysis of pesticide poisoning and perceptions of autoinjector devices in rural communities in Sri Lanka - a study protocol.Global health action · 2024Article
- Restrictions on Pesticides and Deliberate Self-Poisoning in Sri Lanka.JAMA network open · 2024Article
- Article
- Indonesia's first suicide statistics profile: an analysis of suicide and attempt rates, underreporting, geographic distribution, gender, method, and rurality.The Lancet regional health. Southeast Asia · 2024Article
- Pharmacist gatekeeper interventions for suicide prevention: how evidence from developed countries support their role in low- and middle-income countries.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Review
- Social determinants of health pave the path to maternal deaths in rural Sri Lanka: reflections from social autopsies.Reproductive health · 2022Article
- Charged pyridinium oximes with thiocarboxamide moiety are equally or less effective reactivators of organophosphate-inhibited cholinesterases compared to analogous carboxamides.Journal of enzyme inhibition and medicinal chemistry · 2022Article
- Characteristics and patterns of individuals who have self-harmed: a retrospective descriptive study from Karachi, Pakistan.BMC psychiatry · 2022Article
- Presentation and Treatment of cholinergic Crisis in the setting of Carbamate poisoning.Clinical case reports · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSri Lanka has reduced its overall suicide rate by 70% over the last two decades through means restriction, through a series of government regulations and bans removing highly hazardous pesticides from agriculture. We aimed to identify the key pesticide(s) now responsible for suicides in rural Sri Lanka to provide data for further pesticide regulation.
methodsWe performed a secondary analysis of data collected prospectively during a cluster randomized controlled trial in the Anuradhapura district of Sri Lanka from 2011 to 16. The identity of pesticides responsible for suicides were sought from medical or judicial medical notes, coroners' records, and the person's family. Trend analysis was done using a regression analysis with curve estimation to identify relative importance of key pesticides.
resultsWe identified 337 suicidal deaths. Among them, the majority 193 (57.3%) were due to ingestion of pesticides while 82 (24.3%) were due to hanging. A specific pesticide was identified in 105 (54.4%) of the pesticide suicides. Ingestion of carbosulfan or profenofos was responsible for 59 (56.2%) of the suicides with a known pesticide and 17.5% of all suicides. The increasing trend of suicides due to carbosulfan and profenofos over time was statistically significant (R square 0.846, F 16.541, p 0.027).
conclusionIngestion of pesticides remains the most important means of suicides in rural Sri Lanka. The pesticides that were once responsible for most pesticide suicides have now been replaced by carbosulfan and profenofos. Their regulation and replacement in agriculture with less hazardous pesticides will further reduce the incidence of both pesticide and overall suicides in rural Sri Lanka.
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