Japan is facing an alarming new trend: Websites that explain simple ways to commit suicide with household chemicals have led to several deaths and emergency room nightmares.

By mixing toilet cleaner with pesticide, anyone can make a cloud of deadly hydrogen sulfide gas. If the concentration is too low, it won't work, so at least one set of instructions includes a web app that can calculate the perfect amount of each ingredient.

Hydrogen sulfide can stick to the metal ions which sit at the core of many important enzymes in our bodies. In small amounts, it can put animals into a state of suspended animation.

That trick may work because H 2 S simultaneously suffocates the critters and halts the natural dying process: It gums up the proteins that would ordinarily go haywire and destroy their cells when they are deprived of oxygen.

Unfortunately, in large doses, inhaling the gas is a one-way ticket to eternity.

Do you think that websites like this are dangerous and should be illegal?