A pair of lawsuits filed last month — one in California, one in Washington state — claims that the e-commerce megastore Amazon “knowingly” sold so-called “suicide kits” to teens who then took their own lives shortly after the product arrived…The main product in question is sodium nitrate, a chemical which, at 6% purity levels, is often used as a food preservative. However, the lawsuit claims that Amazon sells sodium nitrate at levels above 98% purity, which have “no non-institutional or household use,” but which have become a popular means of committing suicide. The New York Times reported in 2021 that an online chat forum about suicide often features recommendations for sodium nitrate as one of the “most discussed” suicide options available.