Methanol in the Moonshine

During the American Prohibition, moonshine was <a href="http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1864521_1864524_1864626,00.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">responsible</a> for over 750 deaths and more than a hundred thousand cases of blindness or paralysis in New York City alone. Over eighty years later, in early 2019, <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/11/693516595/bootleg-liquor-kills-100-in-indias-worst-outbreak-in-years" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">several</a> <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/02/23/697317095/bootleg-liquor-kills-scores-in-indias-latest-mass-outbreak-of-alcohol-poisoning" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">outbreaks</a> of toxic alcohol poisoning lead to hundreds of deaths and injuries in northeast India. The culprit in both these cases was methanol contamination. Chemically, the only difference between methanol and ethanol is the number of carbons (two in ethanol and one in methanol). Methanol and ethanol taste about the same and produce about the same initial intoxicating effect. The only difference is that methanol, once ingested, is <a href="https://www.livescience.com/65454-is-moonshine-safe.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">metabolized</a> by the liver into formaldehyde and formic acid, chemicals that can <a href="https://www.livescience.com/23305-bootleg-liquor-methanol.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">damage</a> the optic nerve, leading to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ershdb/emergencyresponsecard_29750029.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">blindness</a>, and eventually resulting in death. <a href="https://medium.com/creative-science/methanol-in-the-moonshine-b7e38d695717">Website</a>