Nepal, Oct. 8 -- In rural parts of Nepal, acute poisoning with pesticides remains a persistent public health problem. It is the second most common means of suicide nationwide, causing roughly 15 to 20 percent of all self-harm fatalities. Most of these acts are impulsive. In these moments of crisis, household access to highly concentrated agrochemicals can often lead to preventable deaths.

In August 2019, the Government of Nepal banned eight highly hazardous pesticides. Among them were the neurotoxic insecticide dichlorvos and the three-gram tablet formulation of aluminium phosphide, which comprised 56 percent aluminium. After a two-year grace period that ended in September 2021, giving distributors time to exhaust their inventories, the ...