New Laser Technology Could Prevent Hundreds of Methanol Poisoning Deaths Per Year

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Australian researchers have created laser-based technology that can detect the presence of methanol without unsealing bottles. If mass-produced, the breakthrough could help prevent hundreds of deaths per year attributed to methanol poisoning from adulterated alcohol.

The device, invented by Ané Kritzinger and Ralf Mouthaan at Adelaide University, involves a physical cone that can project lasers into glass bottles of liquor and wine. Though it’s limited to the lab for now, researchers are confident that it could eventually be turned into a handheld used by health officials, distributors or retailers to combat fraud.

“We change the colour, or the wavelength of the laser slightly, while we’re taking measurements, and this allows us to pick up very small amounts of the methanol that’s inside of the bottle,” Kritzinger told ABC News Australia.

“With all of this combined we can detect methanol at a concentration of 0.2 per cent inside any bottle. It doesn’t matter which colour the glass is and it doesn’t matter whether it’s whisky, or vodka or tequila inside the bottle.”

When digested by the human body, methanol breaks down into formaldehyde and formic acid, poisonous compounds that can cause blindness, organ failure and death when consumed even in small doses. Bootleggers are known to add methanol to their spirits as a low-cost, high-strength workaround to stretching out alcohol supplies.

Doctors Without Borders says that over 2,000 people have been affected by methanol poisoning over the past year, with the highest incident rates reported in Indonesia, India and Bangladesh. Due to limited public awareness and the stigma surrounding black-market alcohol, the non-profit believes that official figures may be an underestimation.

If left untreated, methanol poisoning has a fatality rate between 20% and 40%. The issue has faced renewed international scrutiny following the recent death of six tourists, including two Australian teenagers, in Laos.

Scientists have historically tested for methanol using chromatography, which can only be performed with liquid samples in a lab. Though effective, the technique is difficult to reproduce en masse and is most commonly used following suspected methanol poisoning outbreaks.

Researchers at Adelaide University believe that their device could turn the reactive into the proactive. “The technology is quite simple,” Kritzinger added. “In practice, it should be able to be implemented in real life, and help people.”