The Role of Green Chemistry in the Management of Self-harm and Suicides by Hazardous Chemicals

Hazardous chemicals, including very toxic pesticidesPesticides, house cleaning agents and medical drugs, are often used in self-harmSelf-harm and suicides. Limiting of access to such hazardous substances have previously been shown to reduce incidents of self-poisoning. Green chemistry offers the opportunity to reduce or eliminate hazardous substances from the design stage and extends the efforts of limiting access by modifying properties of chemical products to render them harmless or safe for potential self-harmSelf-harm and suicideSuicide victims. This is in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 3 which aims to reduce the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicalsHazardous chemicals and air, water and soil pollution and contamination’ by 2030. Green chemistry also can contribute in the achievement of SDG Indicator 3.4.2 which specifically aims to reduce suicideSuicide mortality rates within the same period. Reduction of self-harm and suicides from self-poisoning will require a wider application of computational toxicology techniques to non-pharmaceutical chemical products such as pesticidesPesticides and house cleaning agents. Currently, the application of computational toxicology on non-drug chemical products is limited to a few cases because of the challenges of associating chemical structure attributes to mechanistic events, especially when you consider both efficacy of pesticides in target pests and safety in humans. The application of green chemistryGreen chemistry principles should not only focus on the toxicology of active ingredients and co-formulants but also on other parameters that may modulate the dose or exposure levels. Greater efforts are required to develop more cost-effective methods for producing green household cleaning agentsHousehold cleaning agents.