Laos Methanol Poisining

[girlfriend44]

Not seen anything on MN about it.
AIBU to not understand what's going on?
Where the bars and clubs not aware the drinks were deadly, or was it deliberate?

What a horrible thing to happen to these young people!😱

I thought it was bootleg alcohol. So made cheaply to make a profit, rather than being a deliberate attempt to harm.

Really sad. I don’t think it was deliberate as in murder but was definitely intentional use of methanol to make cheap alcohol. It could happen to anyone travelling- just awful.

My understanding is that the usual thing that happens with methanol contamination of alcoholic beverages is that either they’ve been mixing in a little methanol because it’s cheap and they accidentally put too much in so the drinks contained a lethal dose, or someone made home-distilled spirits and the chemistry went a bit wrong and they ended up making some methanol along with the ethanol.
Either way, it’s not necessarily a case of deliberately trying to hurt or kill people, but could well be people trying to maximize profit with very dangerous and completely reckless practices.

Bootleg alcohol in a youth hostel wasn't it? They gave out free shots. Presumably they bought some cheap 'alcohol' somewhere.

Yes YABU to not understand what is going on. The dangers of homemade spirits and counterfeit spirits have been common knowledge since the hey dey of backpacking Asia & SE Asia in the 1970s.

Parents should be telling their DC don’t drink anything that isn’t in a single serving sealed can or bottle that you open yourself.

Absolutely awful. So tragic for everyone involved.

Methanol poisoning is the reason that it’s illegal to distill your own spirits in many places, even where it’s legal to brew your own beer for example.

If someone has knowingly put methanol in to something intended for human consumption, given that apparently as little as 25ml can be fatal, then why is not murder? It’s deliberate contamination with a well-known poisonous substance which can be fatal in small quantities.

I don’t think they knew, there’s a lot of bootleg alchohol. Sometimes with methanol. It can give an alchohol buzz, I’ve heard of people drinking antifreeze for the methanol. Some people will react badly though.

I think they were free shots so possible cheap bootleg booze. Supplier either didn’t know or doesn’t care that it’s dangerous. I’ve got family from Ireland and people used to buy homemade booze as cheaper way back in the day. You could get a bad batch and kill a few people back then too. I think whoever made it/ supplied it/ possibly hotel manager as bought it/ served it knowing it was illegal will get done for msnslaughter or equivalent.

It’s awful but my understanding is this has been happening for a long time. I listened to a podcast that was recorded a good few years ago where they talked about making sure to only order sealed beers and never the spirits due to potential methanol poisoning. The podcaster had heard about someone losing their sight due to it.

I've read in the news before about people being poisoned by it in Cancun and other areas of Mexico too.

One weird thing about methanol poisoning is that drinking lots of ethanol (legit consumable alcohol) can save you from being poisoned - your body processes the ethanol first which slows slows the rate the methanol produces toxic compounds as it is processed. So maybe when they add in methanol to ethanol based drinks it just stretches them and could drink more than a normal harmful dose of methanol without being injured. But yeah, you have a point. If they figure someone is responsible for deliberately adding methanol to drinks they will be facing some serious criminal charges.

I remember a BBC documentary series a few years ago about Environmental Health Officers going about their business (anyone recall Mr Trebus??) and unregulated alcohol (often sold in v similar branded bottles etc) was one of their bugbears - as it mostly contained deadly methanol.

One can only hope (after all the drastic LA cuts here this last 14 years) that EHOs are still on the case on this. Otherwise, it could easily happen here.

@warofthetimemachines That's really interesting. The hostel guy said they gave out 100 free shots to lots of people, and only a handful became ill. I wonder if the others continued drinking or something and the unfortunate others just had the shot or something. Or I suppose they could just have had more.

It’s terrifying- I heard about ( methanol) poisoning in pets- and it’s imperative to get to a vets ASAP.
It’s an horrendous death otherwise.

It is meant to taste attractive to animals.
The fact humans are DELIBERATELY dosing and poisoning people with this is very worrying.

Jay son is travelling in Asia at the moment. Funnily before he left I said to him to be careful about drink and only buy bottled beer and cans. Feel so sad for the victims and their families.

*my son

I definitely remember this being a known risk when I was backpacking age - so late 90s - basically avoid moonshine, especially in places like SE Asia. But I can't recall hearing much about it recently at all - and DH has never heard of it.

Definitely not uncommon.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_methanol_poisoning_incidents

You’re right, I also assumed it was a targeted murder spree against tourists. Awful in any case, killing ppl to make a profit on ‘free’ booze

Exactly this - I've travelled throughout SE Asia twice (once as a youngster and once during my 'grown up gap year' when I was 40) and stuck vigilantly to this rule.

First time around I benefited from the advice of an older sibling who had already been there, second time around my days of accepting free shots had passed!

I think this is something people do need to be more aware of.

(In saying that, it's not just an SE Asian thing - I'm Scottish of Highlands & Islands descent and a great uncle of mine died as a result of drinking bootlegged whisky. It's frighteningly easy to make a mistake in the distillation process and that's why we have laws controlling it.)

I am not defending it, but alcohol is a well-known poisonous substance and people still indulge in it. Like others here, I have frequently heard the warnings about drinking bootleg or even "home brew" in Asia and the Far East.

Could also just be different bottles from different batches of moonshine.
Methanol and ethanol are very closely related chemically. It’s a bit like producing carbon monoxide instead of carbon dioxide with incomplete combustion. You mess up the distillation environment just a little bit and you end up making methanol alongside the ethanol.
When spirits are made on an industrial scale by legit companies they control the distillation process very carefully and I think government regulations require regular testing to make sure any methanol content stays below a defined safe level.

I was listening to a really interesting podcast on a previous victim of this.
It's this one -see photo (I love the whole series, also available on Spotify with adverts)