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These are Guaro
Montano, Baron Rojo
Aguardiente, Timbuka
Aguardiente, and Molotov
Aguardiente. / Ministry
of Health photo.
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Deaths
now 13 deaths from liquor
adulterated with methanol
By A.M. Costa Rica staff
Deaths from drinking poisoned
alcohol are now 13, said the
Ministry of Health. The deaths
took place in June and earlier
this month.
The alert is on four liquor
brands adulterated with
methanol. These are Guaro
Montano, Baron Rojo Aguardiente,
Timbuka Aguardiente, and Molotov
Aguardiente.
According to the ministry's most
recent report, there are 10n men
and three women, aged 35 to 64,
who died. Six were in San
José. One was in Heredia. Three
were in Cartago. Two were in
Guanacaste, and one was in
Limón.
Fiscal Control Police also
reported confiscation of 20,806
bottles of these liquors in
stores located throughout the
nation.
The General Health Law empowers
the Ministry of Health to punish
the establishments that continue
selling or distributing such
products. For this reason, the
owners of stores that disregard
the prohibition to sell these
brands will be have the sanitary
permission of operation canceled
in addition to closure of the
place.
On July 16, authorities of the
ministry filed criminal
complaint about the alcoholic
beverages adulterated with
methanol. The suspect bottles
are believed to be counterfeits
of legitimate brands.
"Protected by the General Health
Law and to safeguard the
population, we proceeded to file
a complaint with the Public
Ministry with the provision of
evidence, such as laboratory
tests, which confirm the
adulteration with methanol,"
said Daniel Salas, Health
minister. "It will be up to the
judicial authorities to carry
out the investigation to
determine the criminal
responsibilities."
July 5 the ministry issued a
health warning about the
consumption liquor that had been
adulterated with methanol.
Authorities said then that the
adulterated products may be
counterfeit. Making fake alcohol
is a cottage industry in Costa
Rica, and bootleggers usually
produce a bottle that looks
exactly like the commercial
product. Periodically police
raid a bottling operation and
destroy the fakes.
Methanol, also known as methyl
alcohol, originally was produced
chiefly by the distillation of
wood, hence the name wood
alcohol. Sometimes methanol is
created by bootleggers who are
trying to produce ethanol, the
type of alcohol usually found in
beer, wine and liquor.
Methanol is toxic in two ways.
First, methanol can be fatal due
to effects on the central
nervous system, acting as a
depressant in the same manner as
ethanol poisoning. Second, it is
metabolized to formic acid that
can cause blindness in those who
drink it as well as frequent
deaths.
Because of its toxic properties,
methanol is frequently used as a
denaturant additive for ethanol
manufactured for industrial uses
to prevent the liquid from being
used for drinking.
The symptoms are presented
almost immediately after having
drunk the liquor. They are rapid
drunkenness, nausea, dizziness,
vomiting, severe abdominal pain,
severe headache and lack of
coordination of body movements.
Due to the difficulty for people
to distinguish between the
original product and the fake,
the specialists make the
following recommendations:
- Do not consume or buy those
brands until the alert is
lifted.
- The sale of those liquor bands
are forbidden until the alert is
lifted.
- If any person detects the sale
of this product in any store, he
or she must report the sale of
this product to the local
police. Complaints can also be
made by phone 2233-2854 and also
at the email address elizabeth.solorzano@misalud.go.cr
The A.M. Costa Rica team asks
readers to share this alert
among their contacts.
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Do you know if these brands of
liquor are being sold in your
community?
We
would like to know your thoughts
on this story. Send your
comments to news@amcostarica.com
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