Suicide pill

<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<h3>Description</h3>

During <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>, British and American secret services developed the "L-pill" (lethal pill) which was given to agents going behind enemy lines.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a> It was an oval capsule, approximately the size of a <a href="/facts/Pea/hlndxpId">pea</a>, consisting of a thin-walled glass ampoule covered in brown rubber to protect against accidental breakage and filled with a concentrated solution of <a href="/facts/Potassium_cyanide/xcoXn4I8">potassium cyanide</a>. To use, the agent bites down on the pill, crushing the ampoule to release the fast-acting poison. <a href="/facts/Heart_rate/YngB0bzg">Heartbeat</a> quickly stops and <a href="/facts/Brain_death/zlYDv4fG">brain death</a> occurs within minutes. 
After the war, the L-pill was offered to pilots of the <a href="/facts/Lockheed_U-2/teouQIET">U-2</a> reconnaissance plane, who were in danger of being shot down and captured flying over Eastern Europe, but most pilots declined to take it with them.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a>
The <a href="/facts/Central_Intelligence_Agency/U7urmQYL">Central Intelligence Agency</a> began experimenting with <a href="/facts/Saxitoxin/77lgXT4y">saxitoxin</a>, an extremely potent <a href="/facts/Neurotoxin/I7nLuFE7">neurotoxin</a>, during the 1950s as a replacement for the L-pill. According to <a href="/facts/CIA/U7urmQYL">CIA</a> <a href="/facts/Director_of_Central_Intelligence/bWgpp3zY">Director</a> <a href="/facts/William_Colby/vhn8omoH">William Colby</a>, a tiny saxitoxin-impregnated needle hidden inside a fake silver dollar was issued to <a href="/facts/Francis_Gary_Powers/xh6dSLVK">Francis Gary Powers</a>, an American <a href="/facts/Lockheed_U-2/teouQIET">U-2</a> <a href="/facts/Aviator/SJaN1UAJ">pilot</a> who was <a href="/facts/1960_U-2_incident/7NEdcuAc">shot down while flying</a> over the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">USSR</a> in May 1960.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a>
According to <a href="/facts/Jonna_Mendez/DS2AXnrs">Former CIA Chief of Disguise Jonna Mendez</a>, the CIA hid poison pills in a number of items, including the caps of pens and the frames of glasses. Operatives would bite down, and the poison concealed inside would be released.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a>

<h3>Examples</h3>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Special_Operations_Executive/Rln7PPh6">Special Operations Executive</a> agents aiding the <a href="/facts/Cretan_resistance/2Sfq9pRC">Cretan resistance</a> usually carried grey rubber suicide pills, which were known as "cough drops." The agents typically had them sewn into the corners of shirt collars, so they could bite down on them if need be.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a> According to <a href="/facts/Sandy_Rendel/DlfELxmo">Sandy Rendel</a>, one such agent, the pills contained cyanide and would kill in "a matter of minutes" if suckled and "'very painfully' three to four hours later" if swallowed.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a></li>
<li>One of the objectives of the <a href="/facts/Dieppe_Raid/y5WJSTJ7">Dieppe Raid</a> in August 1942 was to discover the importance and performance capability of a German radar station on the cliff-top to the east of the French town of <a href="/facts/Hautot-sur-Mer/cJ24lVYj">Pourville</a>. To achieve this, RAF <a href="/facts/Flight_Sergeant/DILcDypt">Flight Sergeant</a> <a href="/facts/Jack_Nissenthall/6NJcsIYX">Jack Nissenthall</a>, a radar specialist, was attached to the <a href="/facts/South_Saskatchewan_Regiment/mGwPrEcR">South Saskatchewan Regiment</a>. He was to attempt to enter the radar station and learn its secrets, accompanied by a small unit of 11 men of the Saskatchewans as bodyguards. Nissenthall volunteered for the mission fully aware that, due to the highly sensitive nature of his knowledge of Allied radar technology, his Saskatchewan bodyguard unit was under orders to kill him if necessary to prevent his being captured. He also carried a cyanide pill as a last resort.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a></li>
<li>German field marshal <a href="/facts/Erwin_Rommel/vajlBlnK">Erwin Rommel</a> was forced to commit suicide with a cyanide pill following his implication in the <a href="/facts/July_20_plot/VwDalKWz">plot of July 20, 1944</a> against <a href="/facts/Hitler/3zyXG1L8">Hitler</a>.</li>
<li>At the end of World War II, Hitler's wife <a href="/facts/Eva_Braun/JPCg3fpH">Eva Braun</a> and a number of leading Nazis, such as <a href="/facts/Heinrich_Himmler/8xMKCuh2">Heinrich Himmler</a> and <a href="/facts/Philipp_Bouhler/MFDwBWRy">Philipp Bouhler</a>, killed themselves using lethal pills containing a solution of <a href="/facts/Cyanide_poisoning/aRlBkn79">cyanide salts</a>.</li>
<li>On June 22, 1977, <a href="/facts/Aleksandr_Dmitrievich_Ogorodnik/Lq4d76mz">Aleksandr Ogorodnik</a>, a <a href="/facts/Central_Intelligence_Agency/U7urmQYL">CIA</a> operative working in the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">USSR</a> was captured by the <a href="/facts/KGB/ommGANo5">KGB</a>. He offered to write his confession, but said he would only do it with his pen, so that he could bite down on the cap which had an ampoule of lethal poison concealed inside it. According to the Russian agent <a href="/facts/Interrogation/UPPgqVFQ">interrogating</a> him, he was dead before he hit the floor.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a></li>
<li>In 1985, <a href="/facts/Serial_killer/3Sr3d6Vo">serial killer</a> <a href="/facts/Leonard_Lake/SmpklPnr">Leonard Lake</a> killed himself using cyanide pills sewn into his clothes after he was arrested for possessing a <a href="/facts/Suppressor/ok8jwWHM">suppressor</a> and an unregistered handgun, knowing that further investigation into his life would uncover his more serious crimes.</li>
<li>In 1987, two <a href="/facts/North_Korea/Q41laakP">North Korean</a> agents bit into ampoules hidden in the filter tips of cigarettes after they were detained in <a href="/facts/Bahrain/ndXdWPhr">Bahrain</a> as suspects in <a href="/facts/Korean_Air_Flight_858/TTWRxm8o">an airplane bombing</a>. One agent died.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a></li>
<li>During the <a href="/facts/Sri_Lankan_civil_war/YyVryK1a">Sri Lankan Civil War</a> between 1987 and 2009, the suicide bombers of the <a href="/facts/Tamil_Tigers/rWpNHtoI">Tamil Tigers</a> wore a potassium cyanide necklace. If they were captured by the <a href="/facts/Sri_Lanka_Army/0zDWkFQ4">Sri Lanka Army</a>, they would bite into the tablet at the end of the necklace. In addition to suicide bombers, since 1976 almost all Tamil tigers of LTTE wore suicide pills. This is the most modern-day, wide-scale use of potassium cyanide as a suicide tool.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a> The women were the most publicized, carrying a tablet adhered to their tooth.</li></ul>
<h2 id="metaphorical-uses">Metaphorical uses</h2>
Main article: <a href="/facts/Shareholder_rights_plan/Rk1APCxn">Shareholder rights plan</a>
In economics, a suicide pill is a form of <a href="/facts/Risk_arbitrage/cfq98LrV">risk arbitrage</a> used by corporations to suicide during hostile <a href="/facts/Takeover/JGfEbTy0">takeover</a> attempts. As an extreme version of the <a href="/facts/Shareholder_rights_plan/Rk1APCxn">poison pill</a> defense, this crippling provision refers to any technique used by a target <a href="/facts/Corporation/hykSVoWJ">firm</a> in which takeover protection could result in self-destruction.
Variations of the suicide pill include the <a href="/facts/Jonestown_Defense/SnLQVfV9">Jonestown Defense</a>, the <a href="/facts/Scorched-earth_defense/Y2N5ujCt">Scorched-earth defense</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Golden_parachute/9xVSnA6w">golden parachute</a>.

<h2 id="space-travel">Space travel</h2>
One <a href="/facts/Urban_legend/zBubH9kG">urban legend</a> suggests that American <a href="/facts/Astronaut/HB1bd6Lz">astronauts</a> could carry suicide pills in case they are unable to return to Earth. It is possible this myth was started by the movie <a href="/facts/Contact_(1997_American_film)/JuVQ2Ct2">Contact</a> in a scene where the main character is given suicide pills in case she cannot get back to Earth. This was disputed by astronaut <a href="/facts/Jim_Lovell/4LTanxu2">Jim Lovell</a>, who co-wrote <a href="/facts/Lost_Moon/IKqK1EYj">Lost Moon</a> (later renamed Apollo 13). On the DVD director's commentary, it was asserted that because marooned astronauts could easily commit suicide by simply venting the air from their spacecraft or suits, such a pill would not likely be necessary.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a>
<a href="/facts/Cosmonaut/HB1bd6Lz">Cosmonaut</a> <a href="/facts/Alexei_Leonov/m410Rt3D">Alexei Leonov</a> stated that the <a href="/facts/Soviet_space_program/Nz5vfPGg">Soviet space program</a> gave him a suicide pill for use if he could not reenter <a href="/facts/Voskhod_2/8clsrebA">Voskhod 2</a> after his March 1965 <a href="/facts/Spacewalk/udj91j1E">spacewalk</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/6161233.stm">"Poison expert's cyanide suicide"</a>. BBC News. 8 December 2006.</li>
<li><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110921072111/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913459-1,00.html">"INTELLIGENCE: Of Dart Guns and Poisons"</a>. Time Magazine. September 29, 1975. Archived from <a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,913459-1,00.html">the original</a> on September 21, 2011. (subscription required)</li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Robert Hall (5 June 2009). "Allied 'bandits' behind enemy lines". BBC News. Normandy. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8085383.stm" target="_blank">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8085383.stm</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Andonovska, Ivana (2017-05-23). "The usage of cyanide pills in history". The Vintage News. Retrieved 2020-02-18. <a href="https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/05/23/the-usage-of-cyanide-pills-in-history/" target="_blank">https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/05/23/the-usage-of-cyanide-pills-in-history/</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">Pedlow, Gregory W.; Welzenbach, Donald E. (1992). The Central Intelligence Agency and Overhead Reconnaissance: The U-2 and OXCART Programs, 1954-1974 (PDF). Washington DC: History Staff, Central Intelligence Agency. pp. 65–66. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-17. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130817020101/http://www.gwu.edu/sites/www.gwu.edu/files/downloads/U2%20%20history%20complete.pdf" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20130817020101/http://www.gwu.edu/sites/www.gwu.edu/files/downloads/U2%20%20history%20complete.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">Unauthorized Storage of Toxic Agents. Church Committee Reports. Vol. 1. The Assassination Archives and Research Center (AARC). 1975–1976. p. 7. <a href="http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/vol1/html/ChurchV1_0006b.htm" target="_blank">http://www.aarclibrary.org/publib/church/reports/vol1/html/ChurchV1_0006b.htm</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">"Former CIA Chief of Disguise Breaks Down Cold War Spy Gadgets | WIRED". YouTube. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD841NmJbjM" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD841NmJbjM</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">Beevor, Antony (1994). Crete: The Battle and Its Resistance. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press. p. 253. ISBN 0813320801. <a href="0813320801" target="_blank">0813320801</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Rendel, Alexander Meadows (1953). An Appointment in Crete: The Story of British Agent. London: Allan Wingate. p. 145. <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">Atkin, Ronald. Dieppe 1942: The Jubilee Disaster. London: Book Club Associates, 1980. p. 136. <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">"TRIGON: Spies Passing in the Night - CIA". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2024-05-02. <a href="https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/trigon-spies-passing-in-the-night/" target="_blank">https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/trigon-spies-passing-in-the-night/</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">"'Moscow Rules': How The CIA Operated Under The Watchful Eye Of The KGB". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-04-30. <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/06/10/724099134/moscow-rules-how-the-cia-operated-under-the-watchful-eye-of-the-kgb" target="_blank">https://www.npr.org/2019/06/10/724099134/moscow-rules-how-the-cia-operated-under-the-watchful-eye-of-the-kgb</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">Don Oberdorfer (5 December 2001). The two Koreas: a contemporary history. Basic Books. p. 184. ISBN 978-0-465-05162-5. Retrieved 6 December 2011. <a href="978-0-465-05162-5" target="_blank">978-0-465-05162-5</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">John Emsley (2008). Molecules of murder: criminal molecules and classic cases. ISBN 978-0-85404-965-3. <a href="978-0-85404-965-3" target="_blank">978-0-85404-965-3</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">Robert Zemeckis, Steve Starkey, Contact DVD audio commentary, 1997, Warner Home Video <a href="/wiki/Robert_Zemeckis" target="_blank">/wiki/Robert_Zemeckis</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">Portree, David S. F.; Robert C. Treviño (October 1997). "Walking to Olympus: An EVA Chronology" (PDF). Monographs in Aerospace History Series #7. NASA History Office. pp. 15–16. Retrieved 2008-01-05. <a href="https://history.nasa.gov/monograph7.pdf" target="_blank">https://history.nasa.gov/monograph7.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Suicide pill open-in-new

Suicide pill