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Exit International undertakes social and experimental research associated with end-of-life options.
The Peanut Project
From necessity comes invention with
the Exit International Peanut Project providing an exciting
new international venture.
In 2005, the Peanut Project brought together
a small group of elderly and seriously ill Exit members to make
their own barbiturate-based Peaceful Pill. ('Peanut'
is an old street term for "Barbiturate".) Several observers from the US also attended.
A more detailed outline of the Peanut Project is available HERE.
CoGenie
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| CoGenie |
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The Carbon Monoxide Generator –
or CoGenie - is an invention
of Exit Director, Dr Philip Nitschke.
Made from a variety of products such
as plumbers’ tubing, Tupperware, sauce bottles
and jam jars, the CoGenie produces pure carbon
monoxide.
The CO gas that is produced by the
CoGenie is very different to the gas emitted from
car exhausts which is less than 1% of CO mixed
with a lot of other noxious, smelly, dirty chemicals.
Pure Carbon Monoxide is odourless and invisible.
While the CoGenie may look like
a strange invention, it is easy to make and can
be done with little or no assistance at home.
Since producing the prototype, Exit
members have been particularly active
in modifying and simplifying the design.
Exit Bag
The
Right to Die Society of Canada was the first pro-euthanasia organisation the first
to make and market plastic Exit bags. Exit International began to manufacture
plastic bags when the Australian government sought
to prohibit their importation from Canada in 2002.
For legal reasons, Exit no longer
supplies plastic bags to our members. Rather,
members must manufacture them by/ for themselves.
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| Lisette
Nigot demonstrating the plastic bag in the film |
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'Mademoiselle & the Doctor' |
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Made of tough plastic, with an elastic
neckband, plastic bags provide a low oxygen death
which is very peaceful, known as a hypoxic death.
Another more common “hypoxic”
death is that caused by a lung infection (pneumonia
– the old person’s friend), or the
sudden de-pressurisation of an airplane, where
whole aircrews occasionally die as if in their
sleep.
This is NOT the violent death from a mechanical
obstruction of one’s airway.
A person using an Exit Bag breathes
easily with the oxygen concentration in the inhaled
air decreasing until unconsciousness and death
result. To suppress the arousal produced by the
raised concentration of carbon dioxide in the
bag, sleeping tablets are taken and the bag positioned
so that it only functions once sleep comes.
The Exit
Bag is also often used in combination with helium gas.
This gas improves the efficiency of the Bag, since
the helium displaces the oxygen so that hypoxia
and death occur in a matter of minutes, not hours. Disposable helium canisters are readily
available in Australia from the importers, Balloon Time or most Spotlight stores.
Prescription Drugs
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| Prescription
Drugs |
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In the 1950s, there were many sleeping tablets which - if taken in excess - would provide a person with a peaceful death.
Back then, names like Nembutal, Veronal, Amytal,
Seconal, Soneryl were common. Some were even recommended
for babies, to help with sleep during awkward
times such as teething.
In the past half decade, Barbiturates
have fallen out of favour with none now prescribed
by doctors in Australia. This means that it is very difficult to die from an overdose of
a modern prescribed sleeping pill.
The most likely outcome these days
from an overdose is to make yourself very sick. Remember, an overdose of any drug that
is 'slow release' still means that the drug is slow release.
There are, however, a small number
drugs that are still available in Australia and
other countries on the prescription schedule.
Questions about these drugs are answered
at Exit workshops. |
