SEATTLE — A King County Superior Court judge is taking a motion filed by Amazon under consideration following a lawsuit filed by a Camas, Washington family that seeks to hold the retail giant responsible for their teenage son's suicide.
At issue is sodium nitrite, a common meat preservative when used at a strength of 6%. Court records show between 2018 and 2022 several young people bought the chemical compound at 99% strength on Amazon, then used it to end their lives. There’s no known household use for sodium nitrite at 99%. It is used in research and hospital settings.
In legal filings, Amazon argues the lawsuit should be thrown out. "(The company) didn’t act negligently” and that the people who killed themselves are responsible, according to Amazon.
“Here, the decedents’ death were … caused by their voluntary choices to commit suicide by intentionally ingesting an industrial-grade chemical, not from something wrong with the product,” wrote an Amazon attorney.
Records show other retailers, including eBay, Shopify and Etsy, removed sodium nitrite from their sites after learning it was being used as a vehicle for suicide. In 2019, eBay “took the voluntary decision to prohibit globally the sale of sodium nitrite as a chemical after receiving a report of potential use of the substance for suicide attempts,” wrote an eBay executive.
Amazon sold the product longer. The company removed the product worldwide in late 2022.
“To minimize the potential for product misuse, we are limiting the sale of high concentration sodium nitrite to business buyers on Amazon Business,” an Amazon spokesperson wrote in a statement to KING 5.
Twelve sets of parents from across the country are involved in litigation with Amazon. All of them had children take their own lives after buying sodium nitrite on the Amazon site. Some tried to pressure the company to immediately remove the product, without success.
"They knew, they knew. And they need to know (the trauma) they caused," said Michelle Stickley of Camas, Washington. Her 15-year-old son Tyler bought sodium nitrite on Amazon three years ago and used it to take his own life by mixing it with water and drinking it. "Tyler was just a boy. There are families, there are people that are hurt because of what was on that website."
The KING 5 Investigators reviewed dozens of legal documents, emails, live chat messages and letters from parents, attorneys, members of Congress, as well as reviews on Amazon’s own website. The documentation shows the company was warned for at least four years that young people were buying the product on its site and using it to kill themselves, yet Amazon didn’t take action until October 2022.
How to get help
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit Vibrant Emotional Health’s Safe Space for digital resources.
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