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Until recently, suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning was uncommon in most Asian cities. One reason may be safety, as the use of coal gas can claim innocent casualties in the typically crowded living environments. Another factor may be accessibility, because the limited ownership of private vehicles precludes automobile exhaust poisoning.

In November 1998, a 35-year-old Hong Kong woman left a suicide note and burnt charcoal in a barbeque grill within her sealed and cramped apartment. This swiftly generated a lethal level of carbon monoxide that brought about her death. The incident was pictorially portrayed in the local news headlines, and resulted in charcoal burning being romanticized as an easy, effective, and comfortable way of suicide. In the ensuing month, 9 more charcoal burning suicides followed, and by the end of 1998, charcoal burning had become the third most common method of suicide in Hong Kong. Compared with jumping from heights, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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