Brain damage, blindness and death: the global trail of trauma left by methanol-laced alcohol

Methanol, a cheap relative of ethanol, is entering the supply chain, causing thousands of deaths around the worldFor Bethany Clarke, poison tasted like nothing. There was no bitter aftertaste, no astringent sting at the back of the tongue. If anything, she thought in passing, the free shots she and her friends were drinking at a hostel bar in Laos had probably been watered down – she wasn’t detecting a strong vodka flavour through the veil of Sprite she had mixed it with.All in all,