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A comment on Amazon “suicide kits” have led to teen deaths. Parent comment

Re:Amazon “suicide kits” have led to teen deaths by washadjeffmad on Monday October 10, 2022 @07:56AM (#33150248)
That's absurd. The detail that most products contain a lower concentration is not inconsistent with this compound's concentration being practical. The "purity" is also a non-issue - the harm is in the amount.

While I buy 100% sucrose in 10lb quantities, the cupcakes I make with it are a small fraction sugar. It would be very difficult to guage my recipes if the concentration of sugar I bought varied per bag. Sucrose is explosive if atomized and ignited or mixed with oxidizing agents.

The same is true of salt (deadly at 3g/kg body mass and sold in 5-10lb quantities, by the way), which is important when I mix up a dry rub or table seasoning.

Why did you speak universally for something you have copious evidence to dispute?

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Re:Amazon “suicide kits” have led to teen deaths by bastawhiz on Monday October 10, 2022 @12:22PM (#33153291)
> It would be very difficult to guage my recipes if the concentration of sugar I bought varied per bag

The US government sets the purity for sodium nitrite for use in food. You can't buy food-grade sodium nitrite at other concentrations. And using too much sucrose or salt in your recipe doesn't make your cupcakes lethal.

Comparing salt to the toxicity of sodium nitrite is an absolutely bonkers argument. You'd need about 225g of salt (about 3/4 cup) to be lethal for a 75kg person. Good luck eating that much salt. By comparison, you need 5g of sodium nitrite.

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