Euthanasia Advocate Displays Death Bag to Britons, Promotes Lethal Drugs

Bioethics   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 14, 2008   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Euthanasia Advocate Displays Death Bag to Britons, Promotes Lethal Drugs

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 14
, 2008

London, England (LifeNews.com) — Australia euthanasia advocate Philip Nitschke is coming under criticism from pro-life advocates in Britain who are upset that he is bringing his message there. Nitschke reportedly displayed a suffocation bag at a public meeting in London yesterday.

He is also alleged to have told participants how to get poisonous drugs.

Nitschke met with a group of elderly citizens and explained in minute detail how they could kill themselves by obtaining drugs such as a veterinary medicine from Mexico or using an "Exit bag" to suffocate themselves to death.

He explained how drug-sniffing dogs at airports in Mexico apparently have not caught on to the scent of the drug and people traveling there to purchase it have not had issues.

Meanwhile, Nitschke’s promoted his book The Peaceful Pill, a do-it-yourself handbook that contains the same instructions for suicide and which is banned in Australia. He launched a new online version that he debuted in England at the meeting.

The meeting was controversial from the start, with the Bournemouth council refusing to allow him to speak and threats of possible arrest for telling Britons how to take their own lives.

Nitschke ultimately gave his lecture at the Conway Hall, which is the headquarters for the South Place Ethical Society.
According to the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, a British pro-life group, the Northern Ireland Forum for Ethics in Medicine and Healthcare has canceled a similar talk scheduled for Sunday.

Dignity in Dying and the British Medical Association have distanced themselves from Nitschke and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party has called his message dangerous.

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