Toxic alcohol kills 17 in southern India
At least 17 people have died from drinking toxic home-brewed alcohol in southern India, an official said on Monday, just weeks after a similar incident claimed 170 lives.
Fifteen people died in tribal villages of Andhra Pradesh state over the New Year weekend and two more died on Monday, an official from the excise ministry in the state capital Hyderabad told AFP.
"All of the victims were basically labourers. Three women are also among the dead," he said, declining to be named.
The latest deaths came less than a month after 170 people died from consuming similar poisonous alcoholic drinks in the eastern state of West Bengal.
Poor workers who are unable to afford branded alcohol often turn to illegally brewed liquor for cheap intoxication.
Two Andhra Pradesh officials responsible for regulating alcohol have been suspended following the weekend deaths and liquor samples have been sent for chemical analysis.
The liquor may have been contaminated with methanol, a highly toxic alcohol sometimes used as an anti-freeze or fuel but also added to home-brewed liquor to increase alcoholic content.
If ingested, it can cause blindness and liver damage and it kills in larger concentrations.
A 2004 World Health Organization report concluded alcohol abuse was one of the main killers of young Indian men, while an Indian government-funded study the same year found 62.5 million people were unhealthily dependent on alcohol.
Other recent mass poisonings caused by home-brewed alcohol include one in 2009 when 43 died in the western state of Gujarat, which bans the sale of alcohol.
In May 2008, more than 168 people died in the southern states of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
(c) 2012 AFP
-
Toxic liquor kills 143 in eastern India
Dec 15, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Living alone is associated with an increased risk of alcohol-related deaths
Sep 20, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Alcohol and malt liquor availability and promotion higher in African American inner cities
Apr 03, 2008 |
not rated yet |
0
-
UN health agency sounds alarm on alcohol abuse
Feb 11, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Three-year-old is UK's 'youngest ever alcoholic'
Mar 14, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Consumers largely underestimating calorie content of fast food
People eating at fast food restaurants largely underestimate the calorie content of meals, especially large ones, according to a paper published today in BMJ.
Health
9 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
It's not your imagination: Memory gets muddled at menopause
Don't doubt it when a woman harried by hot flashes says she's having a hard time remembering things. A new study published online in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS), helps confirm with o ...
Health
10 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Farm bill: Senate rejects GMO labeling amendment
The Senate has overwhelmingly rejected an amendment allowing states to require labeling of genetically modified foods.
Health
11 hours ago |
not rated yet |
1
McDonald's can't shake criticism about nutrition
(AP)—McDonald's once again faced criticism that it's a purveyor of junk food that markets to children at its annual shareholder meeting Thursday.
Health
11 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Economic incentives increase blood donation without negative consequences
Can economic incentives such as gift cards, T-shirts, and time off from work motivate members of the public to increase their donations of blood?
Health
13 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
Controlling mood through the motions of mitochondria
(Medical Xpress)—Regulating the distribution of power in neurons is done by a system that makes the national electric grid look simple by comparison. Each neuron has several thousand mitochondria confined ...
Motion quotient: IQ predicted by ability to filter motion (w/ video)
A brief visual task can predict IQ, according to a new study. This surprisingly simple exercise measures the brain's unconscious ability to filter out visual movement. The study shows that individuals whose ...
Multiple research teams unable to confirm high-profile Alzheimer's study
Teams of highly respected Alzheimer's researchers failed to replicate what appeared to be breakthrough results for the treatment of this brain disease when they were published last year in the journal Science.
Scientists discover molecule triggers sensation of itch
Scientists at the National Institutes of Health report they have discovered in mouse studies that a small molecule released in the spinal cord triggers a process that is later experienced in the brain as ...
Researchers find common childhood asthma unconnected to allergens or inflammation
Little is known about why asthma develops, how it constricts the airway or why response to treatments varies between patients. Now, a team of researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, Columbia University Medical Center ...
Diabetes' genetic underpinnings can vary based on ethnic background, studies say
Ethnic background plays a surprisingly large role in how diabetes develops on a cellular level, according to two new studies led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Jan 02, 2012
Rank: not rated yet
I think they mean 'methanol' as methane would only make the cheap alcohol a bit fizzy ;P
Jan 03, 2012
Rank: not rated yet