Oz pro-euthanasia campaigner to launch lethal drug kit

Melbourne, March 30 (ANI): Aussie pro-euthanasia campaigner Dr. Philip Nitschke is contemplating launching lethal drug kits in the UK, which will enable people to check the strength of drugs they purchase to commit suicide.

He has revealed in his organisation Exit International's newsletter 'Quoting Deliverance, that the 35-pound kits would be released in May, to coincided with his planned tour of Britain.

According to The Observer, the heart of such kits are chemicals that change colour when mixed with lethal barbiturates.

"We decided to launch in the UK because of its enlightened attitude; many of the things we can do in the UK are banned in Australia,'' the Daily Telegraph quoted quoted Nitschke as saying in the newsletter.

Nitschke's actions, however, have drawn flak from pro- as well as anti-euthanasia groups.

His plan has been termed "irresponsible'' by Dignity in Dying, which calls for terminally ill adults to have the option of an assisted death within strict legal safeguards.

"They have no real control over who accesses the information they provide or uses these kits, and so vulnerable people may be put at risk,'' chief executive Sarah Wootton told the Dignity in Dying website.

Anti-euthanasia group Care Not Killing Alliance spokesman Peter Saunders told The Observer: "His plan is pushing the outermost boundaries of the law and will exploit and endanger vulnerable British people.''

Meanwhile, the British Science Museum is exhibiting Nitschke's 'Deliverance Machine', which used to dispense fatal doses of euthanasia drugs in the 1990s. (ANI)