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Tag: fake alcohol

  • 6 Die in Iran from Homemade Alcohol

    Yet another 6 people have lost their lives after drinking home-made alcohol. This time 4 Iranians died in Southern Iran and another 298 people were poisoned.

    Nine of the people poisoned are now in a coma and have lost their vision and an additional 100 are on dialysis after drinking the home-made concoction last week.

    All of the victims were males under the age of 27 years old and it is thought that Iran’s law banning alcohol is the cause of the poisoning because people make their own alcohol at home illegally.

    The consumption of alcohol has been outlawed in the country since 1979 and anyone caught violating the laws can be imprisoned or lashed. Only certain communities within the country are allowed to discreetly make and consume alcohol in order to not offend Islamic traditionalists.

    According to reports around 60 to 80 million litres of alcohol are smuggled into Iran every year and countless amounts are made illegal at home.

    Surprisingly despite the country’s law, there are thousands of alcoholics living in Iran who fuel the home made alcohol industry. Home distilled spirits are cheaper than foreign imported alcohols but the use of poisonous industrial chemicals in its production can prove fatal.

    This post from LasVegasSun.com details what happened:

    Six Iranians have died and 348 have been sickened after drinking poisonous alcohol in the southeastern Kerman province.

    The semi-official ISNA news agency on Saturday quoted a medical official, Dr. Hamid Najmeddin, as saying that three people remained in critical condition at the hospital’s intensive care unit.

    Najmeddin says 67 others were also in hospital in the provincial capital of Rafsanjan. He says 75 people poisoned in Rafsanjan and 109 sickened elsewhere in Kerman province had to undergo dialysis but were later released from hospital.

    Most had consumed the bad alcohol on Wednesday.

    Drinking alcohol is illegal and considered sinful under Islamic law in Iran. However, homemade brews tend to be cheap and available on the black market.

    Source: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/jun/01/ml-iran-alcohol-poisoning/#axzz2V3tj69xX

    Anyone travelling abroad should be aware of the dangers of illegally produced alcohol. Just recently a British woman died while backpacking through the Indonesian jungle because of poisoned alcohol which she had bought from a shop in the jungle. Incidents like this are not uncommon in developing countries because it is cheaper to produce alcohol using industrial chemicals.

    Even though it is unlikely that we will encounter fake alcohol in Oz, we should still be careful when purchasing alcohol, especially when travelling overseas make sure you know what you’re drinking and that you are buying a sealed bottle from a reputable place.

    The substances the criminals usually make fake alcohol with are poisonous, including chemicals such as cleaning fluids, nail polish remover, isopropanol and methanol. People are often fooled by these fakes because they give off the same feeling as normal alcohol at first, but it’s only a matter of time before the effects turn bad, usually starting with a loss of eye sight.

     

  • Indonesian Island Promises Crackdown on Alcohol after Aussie Death

    For those who love holidaying in exotic Indonesia but are afraid of drinking when there may have reason to put their concerns to bed. After an Aussie teen died a few months ago after drinking alcoholic drinks laced with toxic methanol, many Australians (and people from around the world) have been afraid to return to the island or consume alcoholic drinks, especially cocktails while on holiday in that part of the world. But now Indonesian authorities have vowed to get to the bottom of the issue by revoking the business licence of any place found to be selling cheap, unregistered alcohol.

    The incident was a wake-up call to many tourists that cheap, homemade alcohol is a common occurrence in many of these developing holiday nations because more money can be made by purchasing cheaper alcohol. Homemade alcohol has now been banned on the holiday island and business risk losing their right to do business if they are caught by authorities.

    Read more below with a post taken from Abc.net.au:

    Tourism authorities on an Indonesian holiday island are cracking down on homemade alcohol after the death of an Australian teenager last month.

    Liam Davies from Perth died from methanol poisoning after drinking cocktails at a bar on Lombok Island near Bali.

    Now the North Lombok tourism office is threatening to revoke the business licences of any outlet found to be selling unregistered alcohol.

    Office spokesman FahmanToriki says they are concerned tourists will stop coming to the popular holiday area unless they clean up the alcohol industry.

    He says they have told all hotels on nearby GiliTrawangan Island that they are not allowed to sell homemade alcohol.

    Mr Toriki says a campaign has also begun to warn tourists against drinking unregistered drinks.

    Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-13/indonesia-holiday-island-vows-alcohol-crackdown/4517354

    A similar incident occurred last year in the Czech Republic when 22 people died after drinking methanol laced vodka. Vodka is a common drink in that part of the world and there has never been too much restriction on alcohol sales until now.

    Although these incidents are extremely tragic, we can learn from them. Even though it is unlikely that we will encounter fake alcohol in Oz, we should still be careful when purchasing alcohol, especially when travelling overseas make sure you know what you’re drinking and that you are buying a sealed bottle from a reputable place.

    The substances the criminals usually make fake alcohol with is poisonous, including chemicals such as cleaning fluids, nail polish remover, isopropanol and as in this case methanol. People are often fooled by these fakes because they give off the same feeling as normal alcohol at first, but it’s only a matter of time before the effects turn deadly. Rather pay more but know that what you are drinking is safe but if you cannot determine for certain whether the alcohol is legit, abstain altogether.