The Nation - News from March 6, 1986

A six-state study is planned to determine whether the downturn in the farm economy is resulting in more suicides or in more public attention to suicides, health officials say. This will be the first large-scale research program in the nation to see if the rate is actually climbing and, if so, what factors may be involved, said Paul Gunderson, statistics chief at the Minnesota Department of Health and one of the study’s directors. He said results could be available by early autumn. “We will provide the results to people in the agriculture extension service and the mental health system, who are in the front line of intervention,” he said.