WHAT IS HOOCH AND HOW IT KILLS

The main culprit in poisoning from hooch is the presence of large quantities of methanol.

Traces of methanol are found in legally made and licenced alcoholic drinks like beer while country made liquor, when not brewed with care, can contain large quantities of methanol.

Methanol is essentially a toxic industrial- standard alcohol, which is added to increase the potency of liquor. Currently, methanol is easily available in the market, and has many industrial applications including the manufacture of varnishes among other products.

 “problems arise when higher concentrations are formed during incorrectly managed distillation processes, but more particularly when methanol is deliberately added to fortify informally-produced spirits and illicit alcoholic drinks”.

 Methanol gets absorbed in the gastrointestinal track of the person drinking it. It can also enter the system through the skin and by inhalation. Toxic effects arise from methanol metabolising in the body to first form formaldehyde. Formaldehyde, which is thought to be a cancer causing agent, is quickly converted in to formic acid.

  When large amounts of methanol enter the body with copious amounts of spurious liquor, formic acid accumulates in body tissues leading to acidosis.

"A large dose of methanol can start having an effect on the body within two hours.”

 As the victims of methanol poisoning from hooch in India are generally from economically and socially backward communities, they are less equipped to seek specialised care.

Denatured alcohol- 

Ethyl alcohol made unfit for drinking but still suitable for industrial or domestic purposes. 

- alcohol to which have been added sufficient malodorous and obnoxious substances (such as products from the destructive distillation of wood or from petroleum) to prevent completely its use or recovery for beverage purposes but not for many industrial uses (as for an antifreeze)
— called also completely denatured alcohol

-  alcohol to which have been added small amounts of substances (such as methanol, benzene, or acetaldehyde) that do not prevent its use in industry and the arts for specialized purposes (as for solvents)
— called also specially denatured alcohol