Lawyers, who are representing parents suing Amazon for selling “suicide kits” to teenagers who died by suicide, say they have reached a “breaking point.”
Amazon lawyers have allegedly told parents that the online retailer had a right to sell these so-called “suicide kits." The kits are described in the lawsuit as bundled items that Amazon suggests buyers purchase together, including a potentially lethal chemical called sodium nitrite, a scale to measure a lethal dose, a drug to prevent vomiting, and a book with instructions on how to use the chemical to attempt suicide. The online retailer’s lawyers also allegedly said that it would be “unfair and inhumane” to hold Amazon liable for the teens’ deaths.
One of the parents’ lawyers, Carrie Goldberg, took to Twitter yesterday, alleging that Amazon’s corporate ties with news outlets like CBS are effectively working to silence media attention for their lawsuit, while more lives likely remain at risk.
“For months, we avoided press attention to this case,” Goldberg, founder of C.A. Goldberg, PLLC, told Ars in a statement. “But we have reached a breaking point of too many people dying, of medical providers not knowing what is happening or that a treatment protocol exists, and of press spiking stories about it—presumably because of corporate ties to Amazon.”
In her tweet thread, Goldberg claimed that a producer told her that CBS canceled a pair of 60 Minutes segments on the lawsuit—after CBS requested an exclusive—because “higher-ups at CBS quashed the story.” Allegedly, the producer said these executives “didn’t want to risk anybody dying from suicide on account of their segment.” Ars found that CBS News has previously in 2020 reported on lethal uses of sodium nitrite and last month did a 60 Minutes segment on child suicides.
Parents allegedly told Goldberg that CBS canceling was understandable because “everyone is afraid of Amazon.” Goldberg tweeted that parents also noted that CBS has a partnership with Amazon Prime.
Goldberg tweeted that the law firm had extensively communicated with CBS ahead of connecting their clients to CBS reporters to ensure that CBS had experience reporting on suicide and knew how to sensitively handle the segments. After receiving assurances from CBS and a commitment that the segment would air, Goldberg set up a Zoom with parents suing. Her concern was that the interviews could retraumatize her clients, and that, to them, it was only worth enduring that emotional duress if by talking to CBS they could raise awareness for the suffering they’d endured.
“CBS’ failures have been demoralizing and deeply confusing,” Goldberg tweeted. “If it was really about not wanting to report on suicides, why did they assure us so many times they knew how to handle it?”
CBS did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment. An Amazon spokesperson provided a statement to Ars, saying, “We extend our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones personally affected by suicide. Customer safety is a top priority at Amazon. We are committed to a safe shopping experience and require our selling partners to follow all applicable laws and regulations when listing items in our store.”
According to the complaint, “Amazon defends its right to sell sodium nitrite (and other products known to be used for suicide) because it says some states immunize defendants that cause a personal injury where that injury occurred during an attempted or completed suicide.”
Amazon appears to bundle items into “suicide kits”
In their complaint filed in a California court, parents claimed that—despite it being illegal for anyone, including corporations, to assist or aid in suicide—Amazon is the No. 1 “vendor of sodium nitrite used for suicides” and has been “knowingly assisting in the deaths of healthy children by selling them suicide kits.”
Also named in the lawsuit is an Amazon seller, Loudwolf, which is described as the No. 1 “brand of sodium nitrite sold by Amazon.”
Loudwolf did not immediately respond to Ars’ request for comment on how much sodium nitrite it sells on Amazon. The lawsuit claims that Amazon has also failed to supply this information. Earlier this year, Amazon failed to meet a deadline set by a congressional inquiry (following a New York Times investigation into the matter) to confirm “the number of units of sodium nitrite" that Amazon sold. The lawsuit says that Congress expressed concern in a letter to the online retailer that Amazon provides “minors and adults with easy access to sodium nitrite, a deadly chemical.”
Both teen suicide cases described in the lawsuit illustrate how easy it can be for teens to quickly access the chemical on Amazon.
In the first case, a teen named Kristine started experiencing suicidal ideation when the pandemic isolated her from seeing friends in September 2020. Kristine hid her feelings from her family but registered on an online forum called Sanctioned-Suicide.org, where the lawsuit says users increasingly link to Amazon to encourage others to buy sodium nitrite as a preferred suicidal method.
After learning Amazon would deliver the chemical in 48 hours, Kristine was able to create an Amazon account even though she was under 18, skirting Amazon rules against underage account holders—the lawsuit notes that Amazon does not verify age. She ordered the chemical from Loudwolf. She placed the order within weeks of experiencing suicidal thoughts, and the package arrived two days later on her mother’s birthday. The next day, her family found her dead, with the bottle and the Amazon packaging beside her.
The other case in the lawsuit involves a teen named Ethan, who used his mother’s Amazon account to place an order in January 2021. The family reported they had no indication that Ethan was struggling, and when the mother saw the order, she asked, and all her kids denied placing the order. Ethan’s mom assumed her account got hacked, enabled two-factor authentication, and promptly canceled the order, but Amazon worked so fast that the package was already in the mail two hours after the order was placed. The package came, Ethan intercepted it, and he died within a week of placing the order.
Other online retailers stopped selling sodium nitrite
In the complaint, it’s noted that, years ago, other online retailers like Etsy and eBay “stopped selling sodium nitrite when they learned it was frequently being used for suicide.” Parents suing say Amazon could take any number of steps to prevent access to these products to people at risk of self-harm, noting that eBay has systems in place for users and regulators to flag attempts to sell sodium nitrite.
Among other solutions, they say Amazon could provide warnings, require age verification for purchase, limit purchases to only qualified purchasers, ban the sale to minors, or ban the product entirely. The lawsuit also notes that Amazon already complies with United Kingdom laws that banned the sale of sodium nitrite following concerns of increasing suicide attempts due to ease of access to the chemical. It’s suggested that Amazon could apply that same standard of care globally.
The complaint also alleges that Loudwolf violates Amazon’s rules for sellers by not displaying a warning label required by the Food and Drug Administration on the sodium nitrite it sells. Instead of a clear label that says “Keep out of reach of children,” Loudwolf’s product’s warning is pictured saying, “This is a high purity, reagent grade chemical. It is suitable for most experimental and analytical applications, as well as many technical and household purposes. This substance has hundreds of known uses. Please do your own research regarding its application to your specific purpose.”
Another warning label says, “Hazard. Oxidizer. Irritant.”
According to the lawsuit, Loudwolf is one of three brands of sodium nitrite that Amazon sells at concentrations above 98 percent. Loudwolf’s product sold on Amazon has 99.6 percent purity, which the lawsuit notes “actually exceeds the American Chemistry Society standard of 97 percent purity” for science and research purposes and is “a purity level for which there is no non-institutional or household use.” Comparably, sodium nitrite used as a food preservative to cure jerky contains 6 percent purity, the lawsuit says.
“Sodium nitrite is a legal and widely available product offered by retailers to preserve foods, such as meats and fish, and for use in laboratories as a reagent," An Amazon spokesperson told Ars. “Sodium nitrite is not intended for consumption, and unfortunately, like many products, it can be misused.”
Amazon says that searches for the word “suicide” present customers with a banner at the top of their search results with the phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. The complaint includes screenshots showing that Amazon auto-fills the search field for buyers, plugging in the word “suicide” after someone types “sodium nitrite” and suggesting that search above “sodium nitrite salt.”
Parents suing are seeking damages from Amazon and Loudwolf, including punitive damages and loss of accumulation of income, and funeral and burial expenses. They’ve asked for a jury to decide total damages owed for the companies’ allegedly “directly and proximately” causing both Ethan’s and Kristine’s deaths.
If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal or in distress, please call the Suicide Prevention Lifeline number, 1-800-273-TALK (8255), which will put you in touch with a local crisis center.
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