Pro-life appeal stalls sale of suicide book

A euthanasia  campaigner's book outlining ways in which people can kill themselves could be banned for a second time if an appeal from pro-life advocates is upheld.

The appeal by Right to Life New Zealand has stalled distribution of Philip Nitschke's The Peaceful Pill Handbook to bookshops, expected this month.

Right to Life spokesman Ken Orr said the group had been granted permission by the secretary of Internal Affairs to make a submission to the Film and Literature Review Board after chief censor Bill Hastings approved the book for sale last month.

It was given an R18 classification and must be sold sealed.

Mr Orr said the board had been asked to issue an interim restriction order so the book could not be sold till the submission had been heard.

"We're quietly confident that the board will agree with our submission and classify it as objectionable and have it banned.

"Dr Nitschke is showing complete contempt for the censorship laws in Australia and New Zealand."

The book contains graphic details and diagrams about how to commit suicide and is banned in Australia.

It was banned in New Zealand last July but the Office of Film and Literature Classification lifted the ban on May 9 after the book was revised.

It was expected to be in bookshops this month but retailers are still awaiting their orders.

Yesterday, Dr Nitschke, an Australian euthanasia campaigner, said he was not impressed with the appeal.

The book would now not go on sale till after a conference called Voluntary Euthanasia Matters run by Exit International in Christchurch on July 5.

About 20 New Zealand bookshops had agreed to sell the book, including Dymocks in Auckland, he said.

Dymocks in Wellington and another leading retailer in the capital, Whitcoulls, said they had no plans to stock the book. "We don't have it and we won't be getting it," a Dymocks spokeswoman said.

Wellington's Unity Books said it had a significant number on order. "It's an important book," co-owner Tilly Lloyd said. "It might not be a book that sellers agree with, but it is important for customers who want it to be able to get it."

Ashley Bell, co-owner of Insight Books in Upper Hutt, said he planned to have a few copies available.

- © Fairfax NZ News