# 300 Dead in Iran from Drinking Methanol \[corrected title\]

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-dead-in-iran-from-drinking-methanol-corrected-title/850406>\
**Category:** The Quarantine Zone\
**Tags:** covid-quarantine\
**Created:** [March 27, 2020, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-dead-in-iran-from-drinking-methanol-corrected-title/850406 "2020-03-27T08:47:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-dead-in-iran-from-drinking-methanol-corrected-title/850406/1 "2020-03-27T08:47:22Z")

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[Says the AP.](https://apnews.com/6e04783f95139b5f87a5febe28d72015)

Rumors, panic & quackery kill.

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**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-dead-in-iran-from-drinking-methanol-corrected-title/850406/2 "2020-03-27T09:15:40Z")

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They were drinking methanol, wood alcohol, which is highly toxic, not ethanol which is drinking type alcohol.

But other than that - yeah, fear and ignorance.

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**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-dead-in-iran-from-drinking-methanol-corrected-title/850406/3 "2020-03-27T13:07:02Z")

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Very sad, Wikipedia has a huge list of methanol poisoning incidents:

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_methanol\_poisoning\_incidents](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_methanol_poisoning_incidents)

It’s one thing to be dumb enough to drink it if clearly labeled but quite another if you didn’t realize your drink was made with it.

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**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-dead-in-iran-from-drinking-methanol-corrected-title/850406/4 "2020-03-27T13:18:38Z")

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The worst ones are the people who sell methanol, removing the artificial coloring (which is required to be in methanol under Iranian law) and are knowingly selling poison.

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**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-dead-in-iran-from-drinking-methanol-corrected-title/850406/5 "2020-03-27T14:14:00Z")

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I swear, my fingers type all by themselves. I wanted to type “industrial alcohol.” Sorry.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [March 27, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/300-dead-in-iran-from-drinking-methanol-corrected-title/850406/6 "2020-03-27T14:21:55Z")

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> [@Broomstick](#):
>
> They were drinking methanol, wood alcohol, which is highly toxic, not ethanol which is drinking type alcohol.

Thread title corrected.