Acute Care Edinburgh

Preventing Pesticide Suicide

The Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention (CPSP), led by Professor Michael Eddleston, Personal Chair of Clinical Toxicology at the Centre for Cardiovascular Science has been refunded £5.2M for 3 years (starting June 2021) to work to prevent deaths from pesticide self-poisoning.

In the new funding phase, CPSP's overall aim will be to remove highly hazardous pesticides from global agriculture.

Ongoing Clinical Trials in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh

CPSP has analyzed recent secondary data on suicides collected as part of a cluster randomized controlled trial in the south-west of North Central Province (NCP) of Sri Lanka to identify key pesticide(s) responsible for suicides following the 2008-2014 regulation with the aim of reducing deaths through future regulations.

Pesticide regulations need to be carefully planned due to potential adverse effects on agricultural output and costs. However, previous studies in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Korea have shown no evidence of pesticide bans resulting in reduced agricultural yield and/or increased input costs to the farmer.

CPSP is now investigating the impact on agricultural yield and input costs of the 2008-11 pesticide bans in Sri Lanka. CPSP are also conducting clinical trials in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to better understand the pharmacoogy and effectiveness of antidotes and community-based controlled trials to identify effective public health interventions.

Read Michaels' recent Paper 

Find out more about CPSPs work

Professor Michael Eddleston