Horrific alcohol poisoning cases in the world
(Baonghean.vn) - Since humans learned how to make alcohol from methanol, there have been many cases of alcohol poisoning around the world, taking the lives of dozens to hundreds of people.
In 1963,The first serious case of alcohol poisoning has been recorded in Spain, with 51 people dead and 9 people blinded. That is the official figure given by the authorities. According to the Spanish press, the number of victims could reach thousands, mainly in Galicia and the Canary Islands.
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December 1963, 31 homeless people in Philadelphia, USA died after drinking alcohol containing methanol purchased at a local store.
From 1976 to present, India has more than 1,000 deaths from alcohol containing methanol. Of which, 1987 had the highest number of deaths from alcohol with 200 people.
Almost every year in India, someone dies from alcohol. Alcohol containing methanol is illegal, but because it is cheap, most of the buyers are poor workers and low-income people. For families whose members die from toxic alcohol, the Indian government provides each household with 200,000 rupees (equivalent to 4,000 USD).
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| Alcohol has been linked to nearly 200 diseases. |
1986In Italy - the world famous wine producing country, there was a wine poisoning incident that caused more than 90 people to be hospitalized, 23 people died, many people were affected by toxins (leading to blindness, nervous system damage...), the Italian wine industry fell into turmoil.
The Italian government immediately stopped selling and recalled bottles of wine containing methanol. Italian authorities did everything they could to restore the reputation of the country's wine industry, such as increasing police forces to monitor wine production facilities, assuring countries importing Italian wine that they would not allow the export of wine containing methanol...
Year 2000In El Salvador, 122 people died from alcohol poisoning.
Year 2001In Estonia, 68 people died and 43 were disabled due to drinking alcohol.
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| A patient is being treated for alcohol poisoning at Bach Mai Hospital. |
2012, serious alcohol poisoning cases also occurred in Cambodia, killing 49 people; the Czech Republic with 38 Czechs and 4 Poles.
From 18/12 to 23/12/2016117 people in Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia were poisoned by methanol, of which 71 died. Two people involved in producing alcohol from methanol have been arrested.
This is the most serious case of alcohol poisoning in Russia. Russian President Putin had to call an emergency meeting and propose strict regulations on the production of alcoholic beverages, such as clearly stating the chemical composition. He asked lawmakers to quickly promote the new law to take effect before July 2017.
How do countries around the world manage alcohol and beer?
In Russia, the US and some European countries, alcoholic beverages are not freely traded but must comply with strict regulations on licenses, time, location and even customer age.
In Russia, according to the country's regulations, each bottle of wine in stores is connected with a barcode to a central computer system, allowing monitoring from production to sales. That completely prevents the situation of mixing in illegal alcohol as well as the consumption of beer and wine in stores.
In the US, to buy alcohol, the buyer must show the seller his/her ID card, a type of card similar to the National Identity Card in Vietnam, to see if the buyer is eligible to use this type of alcohol. This is a mandatory regulation for all liquor stores here. If violated, the store owner may lose his/her liquor license, a type of license that is very difficult to obtain.
In some European countries, people under 21 are not allowed to buy any alcoholic beverages. Shops and bars check identification to ensure that customers are old enough to drink beer and wine. If they do not comply, the liquor store will be fined between 500 Euros and 4,000 Euros.
Some other countries have regulations on the time to sell beer and wine, mostly from 8pm to 6am or 8am the next morning. Specifically, in Singapore, if a drinker violates the regulations, he or she will be fined up to 1,000 Singapore dollars, and in case of repeat offenses, he or she will be fined 2,000 Singapore dollars and detained for 3 months. And stores that violate the regulations on selling wine outside of the prescribed hours will be fined up to 10,000 Singapore dollars.
