Washington State May Ban Sodium Nitrite Sales

State lawmakers are considering a bill to prohibit sales of highly concentrated sodium nitrite, which has been used in multiple chemical suicides by youths.

Amazon has faced several lawsuits for selling sodium nitrite at 99% strength that was used for suicide.

King5 reports that “the bill allows the sale of lower concentrations of sodium nitrite to consumers and 99% strength to authenticated industrial and commercial outlets, such as laboratories. It carries a maximum $10,000 civil penalty for a first violation and up to a $1 million civil penalty for subsequent violations.”

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Meanwhile, federal lawmakers have drafted legislation to ban selling highly concentrated sodium nitrite for noncommercial use. That legislation, The Youth Poisoning and Protection Act, was passed by the U.S. House in May 2024 then sent to the Senate where it was forwarded to a committee.

“One of my first acts in Congress was co-sponsoring this bill because I’ve seen how too many of Utah’s families have lost young people to suicide,” U.S. Rep Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, said in a statement to the Deseret News. “It’s the leading cause of death for teens in our state. With passage of this bill, we are working to restrict a top suicide poison, sodium nitrite, at lethal concentration levels without interfering in its key commercial uses,”

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Retailers such as Amazon vowed to voluntarily stop selling sodium nitrite in October 2022, King5 reports. Advocates for the sales ban say that without a law on the books, there is nothing to prevent retailers from restarting sales.

“The thing that’s so dangerous about sodium nitrite is how lethal it is. You don’t have a second chance,” said New York-based attorney Carrie Goldberg, who represents over 20 families suing Amazon over the sale of the chemical, told King5.

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Amazon had this to say in a statement it sent to King5.”We are committed to a safe shopping experience and require our selling partners to follow all applicable laws and regulations when listing items in our store. Sodium nitrite is a legal and widely-available product offered by retailers to preserve foods, such as meats and fish, and for use in laboratories as a reagent. High concentration sodium nitrite is not intended for direct consumption, and unfortunately, like many products, it can be misused. To minimize the potential for product misuse, we are limiting the sale of high concentration sodium nitrite to business.”