Enyobeni tavern tragedy: Here are 5 things you need to know about methanol

Traces of the toxic chemical methanol were found in the bodies of 21 teenagers who died at Enyobeni tavern in Scenery Park, East London, last month.

Eastern Cape health director-general Dr Litha Matiwane announced the finding when police and health officials met parents on Tuesday.

Matiwane made it clear that while methanol was found, it was not yet known if this was the cause of death. He said they were further investigating the levels of methanol in the blood. 

Here are five things you need to know about methanol:

It's not for human consumption 

Methanol is a toxic form of alcohol used industrially as a solvent, pesticide or an alternative source of fuel. It is not used in the production of alcohol sold legally for human consumption.

“The first way it gets into the body is to ingest it. But it is a byproduct from other chemicals, so it could have been something else. Hence we say we are investigating,” said Matiwane.

It can be a byproduct of the fermenting process

According to Pretoria-based doctor Jacques Koning, methanol can be a byproduct of the fermenting process when people make their own punch or other alcohol.

Koning told TimesLIVE he suspected there were children who drank the same batch of homemade alcohol. 

“It can be punch or beer, but something must have gone wrong in the fermenting process and methanol was created,” he said

It is primarily used as an industrial solvent

Methanol is mostly used to create fuel, solvents and antifreeze.

According to Chemical Safety Facts, the chemical is primarily used as an industrial solvent to help create inks, resins, adhesives and dyes. 

“It is also used as a solvent in the manufacture of important pharmaceutical ingredients and products such as streptomycin, vitamins and hormones,” it said. 

Methanol and ethanol no different in taste

Ethanol is made from various plant materials collectively known as biomass. It is used to manufacture drugs, plastics, lacquers, polishes, plasticisers and cosmetics.

Dr Shani van den Heever, a general practitioner at Tzaneen’s Spies and Partners, said methanol and ethanol were no different in taste.

“You won’t know you are drinking methanol, they both taste and smell the same,” Van den Heever told TimesLIVE.

“Methanol is mostly consumed through alcohol. It can be ingested through the skin and through gasses that burn, but that seldom happens.”

Two tablespoons of methanol can be deadly to a child

Ingestion of as little as two tablespoons (30 millilitres) of methanol can be deadly for a child, and 2 to 8 ounces (60 to 240 millilitres) can be deadly for an adult, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Arab News reported that hundreds of Iranians have died after drinking illicit alcohol containing lethal amounts of methanol. 

Methanol poisonings rose sharply in Iran at the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic after rumours spread that alcohol consumption could prevent infection.

The health ministry announced in April 2020 that about 500 people had died and a further 5,000 were treated for alcohol poisoning in three months.