A Cyanide pill (also known as a Kill-Pill or lethal pill) is a pill, capsule, ampoule or tablet containing a fatally poisonous substance that a person ingests deliberately in order to quickly cause his/her own life to end. This is done in order to avoid an imminent and far more unpleasant death (such as through torture) or to ensure that he/she cannot be interrogated and leak sensitive information. As a result, lethal pills have important psychological value to persons carrying out missions with a high risk of capture and interrogation.[1] Their main advantage is that, whereas a concealed pistol will quickly be discovered and confiscated when someone is overpowered and searched, a small pill more easily evades detection.
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Traditionally, lethal pills are oval capsules, approximately the size of a pea, consisting of a thin-walled glass ampoule covered in brown rubber (to protect against accidental breakage) and filled with a concentrated solution of potassium cyanide. It is important to note that purpose-made lethal pills (of the rubber-coated type) are never swallowed whole. Instead, they are first crushed between the user's molars to release the fast-acting poison contained within. Brain death occurs within minutes and the heartbeat stops shortly after. A suicide pill swallowed without first being crushed would pass harmlessly through the digestive tract.
The concept of the suicide pill does not limit itself to pills, but rather may lend itself in a colloquial manner to anything that has fatal consequences when deliberately taken or done.
The Central Intelligence Agency began experimenting with saxitoxin, an extremely potent neurotoxin, during the 1950s. According to CIA Director William Colby they issued a tiny, saxitoxin-impregnated needle (hidden inside a fake silver dollar) to Francis Gary Powers, an American U-2 pilot who was shot down while flying over the USSR in May 1960.[2]
In economics, a suicide pill is a form of risk arbitrage used by corporations to thwart hostile takeover attempts. As an extreme version of the poison pill defense, this crippling provision refers to any technique used by a target firm in which takeover protection could result in self-destruction.
Variations of the suicide pill include the Jonestown Defense, the Scorched Earth defense, and the Golden Parachute.
A widely held myth asserts that astronauts carry suicide pills in case they are unable to return to Earth. This was disputed by astronaut Jim Lovell, who co-wrote Lost Moon (later renamed "Apollo 13").