deaths in Laos from methanol poisoning - campaign to warn others

[highlandcoo]

Has anyone been picking up that this is in the news a lot lately? There was a good piece on BBC Breakfast today. Bethany Clarke, the best friend of Simone White, the young woman who sadly died along with five other people in Laos in November, is campaigning to have the danger of methanol poisoning included in the school curriculum. Probably as part of alcohol awareness or travel safety in PSHE lessons.
There has been a huge number of deaths in Turkey in the last six months alone. I don't think we know enough about this horrific danger to young people when on gap years, traveling or simply on holiday.

There was a story of another young woman who was blinded by methanol poisoning. You have no idea and it happens in normal places or not some roadside stall. Prob v.liitle chance of prosecution.

Yes, she was interviewed in the Guardian if it's the same young woman. She has done amazingly well despite losing her sight; I think she went on to university and is still travelling. Still horrendous though.

It's a well-known problem and has been for years (decades even, if I think about when I was planning my trips). As soon as you start researching trips out there there are blogs, guidebooks, forums and even news stories warning of methanol poisoning. The FCDO section of gov.uk and similar sites from other governments also provide information on it. I think FitForTravel does too or used to anyway. A campaign, I suspect, will be of limited effect if people haven't already taken in the warnings from abundance of planning resources out there.

You are right that there is a lot of information online if you know where to look for it. However, for those who haven't heard of methanol poisoning .. well, they don't know to go looking for the information. It's possibly a well-known problem in certain well-travelled circles but IME there are still a huge number of people who are totally unaware of the dangers.
FitForTravel has nothing on methanol now, and the FO website gives some information, but not all of it is accurate. In fact, some of it is misleading and offers false reassurance, focusing on spiking and making sure bottles are opened in front of you, while not warning of the vast amounts of fake - potentially lethal - alcohol still for sale in shops and bars.
The online advice from the FO needs to be clarified and updated .. however how many 18/19/20 year olds trawl through the FO website before setting off? They should but realistically they don't all do so..
The new campaign is aiming to make young people aware of how widespread this danger is, what can go wrong and steps to take to keep themselves safe.

I wasn't aware of it. Well I was aware of the recent story in Laos but not that it was more prevalent than that

https://methanolpoisoning.msf.org/wp-content/themes/msf/pdf/methanol_poisoning_fact_sheet_Q&A.pdf

Medicins Sans Frontieres report 135 deaths from methanol poisoning in Turkey since November. Not to mention in recent years deaths in India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Bali, Morocco, South Africa, the Czech Republic .. and many other places. I honestly don't think people realise how widespread this is.

And whereas MSF are treating people already suffering from methanol poisoning, the new campaign is aiming to raise awareness among young people so that they can take steps to avoid ingesting toxic alcohol in the first place. And also to recognise the symptoms if the worst does happen so that they can seek treatment in time to avoid blindness/brain damage/ death.