The alarm over deaths caused by adulterated drinks is nothing new in Brazil. In November 1997, in the city of Serrinha, 173 km from Salvador, the owner of a funeral home noticed an unusual increase in coffin sales: 11 in just one week. The victims had in common the consumption of homemade cachaça Pé No Pote. Days later, tests confirmed that the drink was contaminated with methanol, a highly toxic substance.
According to a report from Acervo O Globo, the Bahian tragedy bears similarity to the recent cases recorded in the State of São Paulo, where five deaths have already been confirmed and another 22 suspected cases of methanol poisoning. Just like in Serrinha, the São Paulo victims began to feel ill shortly after ingesting the drink, presenting vomiting, severe abdominal pain, and loss of vision.
Bahia, 1997: deaths after cachaça consumption
In the investigation conducted by Bahia’s Health Surveillance, more than 1,300 liters of Pé No Pote cachaça were seized from bars and another 700 liters found in a clandestine warehouse. The then head of the agency, Antônio Siqueira, reported dramatic episodes: “There was even the case of a man who died one day and the next day his wife died. Both had drunk the cachaça”.
Methanol, used in the plastics, solvents, paints industry, and as fuel, is lethal when ingested. Its effects include organ failure, irreversible blindness, and, in many cases, death.
São Paulo, 1990s: young victims of ‘bombeirinho’
Between December 1992 and January 1993, the ABC Paulista region was also marked by a similar tragedy. On the night of December 26, 1992, 23 young people were hospitalized after drinking a drink called “bombeirinho” in a nightclub in Diadema. The mixture, which contained vodka, cassis, lemon, and sugar, was contaminated with methanol. Three people died.
The student Tânia Cristina Cardoso, 21 years old, showed symptoms the next day, took a painkiller, and was found dead shortly after. Another young woman, Andreia Mara Vicente, also 21, lost her vision after ingesting the “vodca coquinho” drink in Santo André. The painter Joaquim Evangelista died less than 24 hours after falling ill from the contaminated drink in bars in São Paulo’s East Zone.
Authorities shut down suspicious bars and seized dozens of liters of vodka. In one of the establishments, tests showed 17% methanol mixed in the drink. The owner, Luciano Parizzotti, stated at the time: “We bought the drink trusting the seller’s arguments”.
Past and Present
The episodes in Serrinha and ABC Paulista in the 1990s expose a pattern that repeats today in São Paulo: the criminal adulteration of alcoholic beverages with methanol, which turns moments of leisure into collective tragedies.
Whether in Bahia’s artisanal cachaça or the industrialized drinks of ABC, the result was the same: deaths, blindness, and severe aftereffects. Now, with new intoxication cases in São Paulo territory, state and federal authorities are intensifying investigations to curb the circulation of adulterated alcohol.
Source: brasil247.com