Two teaspoons of methanol is potent enough to kill

GEORGE TOWN: You cannot see, smell or taste it – but drinking just 8gm per litre of methanol (a little under two teaspoons) means almost certain death.

It is the cheapest form of alcohol and is commonly found in industrial solvents, and even healthcare products, in which they are added at safe levels.

But in illegal alcoholic drinks, methanol is added at deadly levels.

Cheap or illegal liquor is poorly processed and likely adulterated with high concentrations of methanol, says Malaysian Public Health Physicians Association president Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar.

While ethanol is a consumable form of alcohol, Dr Zainal stressed that methanol (commercially sold as methylated spirit) in toxic amounts can cause instantaneous multiple organ failure, nerve damage, blindness and death.

According to Health director- general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, 33 people out of 55 cases died last year from methanol poisoning caused by contaminated liquor.

The cases came from six states: Selangor (25), Perak (13), Penang (six), Pahang (five), Kuala Lumpur (four), Johor (one) and Negri Sembilan (one).

In 2018, 33 people died from methanol poisoning after drinking cheap liquor and contraband beer that had alcohol contents of 12% to 18%.

In 2019, four people died of methanol poisoning after ingesting illegal liquor, while one went blind in Johor Baru.

Aside from methanol poisoning, Dr Mastura Mohd Sopian from Universiti Sains Malaysia said that consuming large amounts of even the safer ethanol in a short period of time would result in alcohol poisoning.

“You can suffer from blackouts, amnesia, hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) and seizures,” she warned.

Other symptoms are hypothermia (abnormally low body temperature), an irregular heartbeat and death.

Other effects from consuming cheap liquor are severe vomiting, permanent brain damage or death, she added.

Consumers Association of Penang president Mohideen Abdul Kader said the crackdown on cheap and illegal liquor must be continuous.