Fears over pro-suicide web pages

People searching the web for information on suicide are more likely
to find sites encouraging the act than offering support, a study says.

Researchers used four search engines to look for suicide-related sites, the British Medical Journal said. The three most frequently occurring sites were all pro-suicide, prompting researchers to call for anti-suicide web pages to be prioritised. Mental health campaigners said such sites preyed on vulnerable people.

Unlike in some countries, pro-suicides sites are not banned in the UK.

The 1961 Suicide Act says it is illegal to aid, abet, counsel, procure or incite someone to kill themselves. But to be successfully prosecuted the individual has to have knowledge and participated in the suicide.

The researchers, from Bristol, Oxford and Manchester universities, typed in 12 simple suicide-related search terms into the internet engines.

They analysed the first 10 sites in each search, giving a total of 480 hits.

Full Story - (There's some very disturbing figures here.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7341024.stm