Asuicide pill (also known as thecyanide pill,kill-pill,lethal pill,death-pill,cyanide capsule, orL-pill) is a pill, capsule,ampoule, ortablet containing afatally poisonous substance that a person ingests deliberately to achieve death quickly throughsuicide. Military andespionage organizations have provided their agents in danger of being captured by the enemy with suicide pills and devices which can be used to avoid an imminent and far more unpleasant death (such as throughtorture), or to ensure that they cannot be interrogated and forced to disclose secret information. As a result, lethal pills have important psychological value to persons carrying out missions with a high risk of capture and interrogation.[1]
The term "poison pill" is also used colloquially for a policy or legal action set up by an institution that has fatal or highly unpleasant consequences for that institution if a certain event occurs. Examples include the so-called "poison pill" clauses inserted in corporate charters as a takeover defence, andwrecking amendments added to legislative bills.
DuringWorld War II, British and American secret services developed the "L-pill" (lethal pill), which was given to agents going behind enemy lines.[2] It was an oval capsule, approximately the size of apea, consisting of a thin-walled glass ampoule covered in brown rubber to protect against accidental breakage and filled with a concentrated solution ofpotassium cyanide.[citation needed] To use, the agent bites down on the pill, crushing the ampoule to release the fast-acting poison. Theheartbeat quickly stops andbrain death occurs within minutes.[citation needed]
After the war, the L-pill was offered to pilots of theU-2 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.[3]
According to former CIA Chief of DisguiseJonna Mendez, the CIA hid poison pills in several items, including the caps of pens and the frames of glasses. Operatives would bite down, and the poison concealed inside would be released.[5]
Special Operations Executive agents aiding theCretan resistance 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.[6] According toSandy Rendel, one such agent, the pills contained cyanide and would kill in "a matter of minutes" if sucked and "'very painfully' three to four hours later" if swallowed.[7]
One of the objectives of theDieppe Raid 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 ofPourville. To achieve this, RAFFlight SergeantJack Nissenthall, a radar specialist, was attached to theSouth Saskatchewan Regiment. 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.[8]
Also at the end of World War II,Hermann Göring, one of the most influential Nazi leaders after Hitler, committed suicide with a cyanide pill he smuggled into his cell the night before his scheduled execution.
On June 22, 1977,Aleksandr Ogorodnik, aCIA operative working in theUSSR, was captured by theKGB. 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 agentinterrogating him, he was dead before he hit the floor.[9][10]
In 1985,serial killerLeonard Lake killed himself using cyanide pills sewn into his clothes after he was arrested for possessing asuppressor and an unregistered handgun, knowing that further investigation into his life would uncover his more serious crimes.
In 1987, twoNorth Korean agents bit into ampoules hidden in the filter tips of cigarettes after they were detained inBahrain as suspects inan airplane bombing. One agent died.[11]
During theSri Lankan civil war, between 1987 and 2009, the suicide bombers of theTamil Tigers wore a potassium cyanide necklace. If they were captured by theSri Lanka Army, they would bite into the tablet at the end of the necklace. In addition to suicide bombers, since 1976, almost all Tamil Tigers of the LTTE wore suicide pills. This is the most modern-day, wide-scale use of potassium cyanide as a suicide tool.[12] The women were the most publicized, carrying a tablet adhered to their tooth.[citation needed]
Oneurban legend suggests that Americanastronauts could carry suicide pills in case they are unable to return to Earth. It is possible this myth was started by the movieContact, in a scene where the main character is given suicide pills in case she cannot get back to Earth. This was disputed by astronautJim Lovell, who co-wroteLost Moon (later renamedApollo 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.[13]
^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. Retrieved2008-01-05.
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