MANILA, Philippines--The Manila Police District (MPD) has expressed alarm over the rise in the number of people who commit suicide by drinking jewelry cleaning fluid.

Chief Insp. Erwin Margarejo, head of the MPD homicide section, said at least two cases in which people killed themselves by drinking silver cleaning fluid have been recorded by his office for the month of October alone.

This prompted the police official to urge Bureau of Foods and Drugs officials and lawmakers to do something to regulate the sale of silver cleaners in the market, saying the chemicals can be purchased easily from practically any store in Metro Manila.

Margarejo also warned parents to keep the poisonous fluid out of children?s reach.

The other day, Salvacion Ferrer, 30, of Yakal Street, Tondo, Manila, committed suicide by drinking silver cleaner after a fight with her live-in partner.

On Nov. 1, Jennifer Joy Maglente, 16, a resident of Vitas, Tondo, killed herself by drinking a glass of juice laced with silver cleaner.

The environmental group Ecowaste Coalition earlier urged the government to ban jewelry cleaning substances which contain cyanide.

The group said the deaths from chemical poisoning due to the accidental and intentional intake of silver jewelry cleaners should compel the government to ban their sale.

?Cyanide-bearing silver jewelry cleaners have become a modern day scourge, inflicting lethal harm on kids and adults who accidentally ingest the ?instant kill? solution or drink it on purpose to commit suicide,? said retired nurse Elsie Brandes-de Veyra.

Citing information from the University of the Philippines-National Poison Management and Poison Control Center, EcoWaste said silver jewelry cleaners were the fourth most commonly ingested chemical poison in 2008. It was also the third most commonly swallowed poison among children.