"I saw a flash of light before I was blinded by methanol.

The death of a tourist from a methanol-contaminated drink in Wang Viang, Laos, is still a debate about how it happened.

In particular, when all of the dead were foreign tourists, many countries have come forward to pressure the Lao authorities to conduct transparent and comprehensive investigations.

At the same time, a notice was issued warning citizens to be aware of the risks of drinking alcohol and cocktails that could contaminate dangerous substances.

It recommends buying drinks from a licensed shop, bar or hotel and avoiding home-made local alcohol in any case, along with checking the packaging to make sure it is not forged or tampered with.

Because there is a chance that a drink that has not passed the standard production process may have methanol contamination, which has caused recent deaths.

Confirmed deaths from methanol-contaminated beverages in Laos so far are at least six, two Danish, one American, one British and two Australian.

The most recent deceased was a 19-year-old Australian woman named Holly Bowles. According to reports, she was rushed to a hospital in Thailand last week with her best friend, Bianca Jones, also an Australian, and died just a day before her.

Another casualty whose list was released, Simone White, a 28-year-old British lawyer, died on Nov. 21.

All of these were among dozens of foreign tourists who fell ill and were taken to the hospital shortly after drinking alcohol with a group of friends on the night of Nov. 12.

There are still a number of tourists with severe illnesses in the hospital.

After the incident, the Lao government issued a statement expressing its deepest condolences for the death of a foreign tourist in Wang Viang, confirming that it would accelerate the cause and bring the perpetrators to legal punishment.

Although this case is not clear where all the hapless tourists received methanol, police officers believe that it may have all been poisoned by free drinks distributed in holtails or by drinking alcohol in bars.

But what is undeniable is that the main cause of the tragedy was methanol-contaminated alcohol consumption, which is a major problem for many Asian countries, not just Laos.

- Knowing methanol, death is silent in bootleg.

Methanol is a colorless alcohol found in everyday products such as home paints, cosmetics, and water antifreeze. This is a harmful substance. If exposed or consumed in large quantities, it can cause harm to the point of death.

Because methanol, once it enters the human body, is metabolized to form formaldehyde, and formic acid, a toxin that harms the nervous system, respiratory system, and vision, causes blood to become acidic, destroys nerve cells, some people, if they have severe symptoms, can become blind or even die.

The reason why methanol is found in alcoholic beverages is because methanol is cheaper than ethanol, which is the type of alcohol that can be consumed, which makes some manufacturers choose to adopt methanol instead, or to mix it with ethanol, to reduce production costs.

This is very dangerous, according to the Methanol Institute, an agency that directly oversees the use of methanol in the industry, that the admission of only 25 to 90 milliliters of methanol into the body can result in death.

Methanol absorbs into the intestine in less than 10 minutes, but the patient may not show symptoms in the first 12-24 hours, and then begin to experience nausea, vomiting, severe abdominal pain, followed by rapid breathing and shortness of breath. Some may experience headaches, confusion, dizziness, blurred vision, which, if not treated in a timely manner, will eventually result in blindness.

For treatment after exposure to methanol poisoning, patients may have a high chance of survival if they are exposed to a small amount of the substance and are quickly diagnosed within 10-30 hours, but if the body is exposed to a large amount of the substance, it can result in atherosclerosis, spastic seizures, loss of consciousness, and death if not treated in a timely manner.

- It's not just Laos. Many Asian countries find methanol-contaminated liquor.

There is alarming data from Doctors Without Borders that each year thousands of methanol exposure patients, especially in Asia, find the most methanol exposure.

The countries most exposed to methanol are Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, China, Cambodia and Vietnam.

In Indonesia, it is stated that the reason for the large number of methanol-contaminated bootlegging cases is because Indonesia has too strict laws, allowing people to find a way out by consuming bootlegging instead.

India is another country where the bootleg industry is thriving.

According to India's Hindustan Times, last June, 63 deaths from methanol-contaminated bootlegging and several blindness occurred in southern cities.

As happened in Thailand last September, a patient was poisoned by drinking methanol-contaminated pickles, resulting in 10 deaths.

In this case, in Thailand, white liquor has been detected in large quantities of methanol contaminated liquor.

Many of the cases that occur in Asia, according to the Doctors Without Borders organization, are the leading cause of many cases because people still lack cognition about the dangers of methanol and lack diagnostic equipment, which is an important tool for diagnosing diseases for timely treatment.

This has led pharmaceutical experts to call for more knowledge of the risks of methanol toxins, especially when traveling in Southeast Asia. One of the experts who spoke about it was Dr. Layla Hanbeck, president of the Association of Independent Multiple Pharmacies in England, who commented after a British tourist was one of the victims of booze in Laos: "Young people should be more informed that some areas in the world can happen."

Because when they travel abroad, they are careful and consume only famous alcoholic beverages that do not mix other ingredients.

Dr. Hanbeck stated, "They just want to make their drinks stronger by adding more alcohol and using economical methods, which unfortunately you know is indistinguishable because they look very similar."

"The only way you can know is when you're actually poisoned, so education and awareness of this is very important, especially in young people," Dr. Hanbeck said.

This reflects that the methanol-contaminated bootleg problem is a problem that many nations are realizing.# Alarm # Booze # Liquor # Blind because of liquor # Lao beer