Can you tell fake alcohol from real? Why methanol is so hard to detect – GLOBAL

November 25, 2024

If you are soon travelling abroad, experts are urging vigilance after six tourists recently died, several of them from confirmed methanol poisoning — a nearly invisible killer that’s hard to spot in tainted alcohol

Methanol is a clear, colourless alcohol used in all kinds of everyday products like industrial cleaners, solvents, paint, cosmetics and anti-freeze. While methanol itself is not harmful, it becomes deadly when consumed, explained Lewis Smith, manager of national projects at the Canada Safety Council.

“When the human body consumes methanol, it transforms it into two different types of chemical compounds in the body; it turns it into formaldehyde and then formic acid. To simplify it, methanol consumption causes the person’s blood to become acidic and that can become fatal very quickly,” he told Global News.

Read more: https://globalnews.ca/news/10886588/methanol-poisoning-what-canadians-should-know/