Public health is weird.
Sometimes really weird.
And sometimes it makes you stop reading, stare into the distance for a few seconds, and say:
“Wait…they did WHAT?”
Welcome to Prohibition.
When the United States banned alcohol in 1920, people didn’t suddenly decide they preferred celery juice. Instead, many turned to bootleg liquor. Some of that liquor came from industrial alcohol, the kind meant for products like solvents, fuels, and perfumes, not happy hour.
@dr..eeks In this episode of Public Health is Weird… The government really did poison industrial alcohol during Prohibition. To discourage people from drinking it, officials required industrial alcohol to be denatured with increasingly toxic chemicals. One of the most dangerous was methanol. The problem? Bootleggers often recovered and re-distilled that alcohol into illegal liquor. When people drank it, methanol was converted into toxic compounds that could damage the optic nerves, brain, and other organs. Some people went blind. Some people died. Officials knew people were still drinking the alcohol, yet the policy remained in place for years. The policy has remained the subject of ethical debate because officials continued it even after poisonings and deaths became apparent. Policies designed to “protect” people can have tragic consequences when they fail to account for how people actually behave. If you’re new here, welcome & be sure to check out the other “Public Health is Weird” episodes on this page! :) #publichealthisweird #sciencetok #publichealth #didyouknow ♬ original sound – Dr. EeKS
The government knew this was happening.
To discourage people from drinking industrial alcohol, officials required manufacturers to denature it with increasingly toxic chemicals. One of those chemicals was methanol.
Methanol isn’t the kind of alcohol found in beer or wine. Once your body breaks it down, it produces toxic compounds that can damage the optic nerves, brain, and other organs. People can go blind. They can die.
And many did.
Bootleggers often tried to remove the toxic chemicals before reselling the alcohol, but the process wasn’t reliable. Poisoned liquor continued circulating throughout the Prohibition years, killing thousands of Americans.
Here’s the part that still sparks debate today:
The government knew people were continuing to drink the alcohol anyway.
Critics argued the policy effectively accepted civilian deaths in the name of enforcing Prohibition. Others argued responsibility rested with those who chose to drink stolen industrial alcohol.
More than a century later, historians still debate where that ethical line should have been drawn.
Human Nature is Key
Policymakers made one assumption: people would stop drinking industrial alcohol. People had…other plans. Public health has been learning ever since that successful policy depends as much on human behavior as it does on intentions.
A good source for this: The story of how the US Government Poisoned Alcohol During Prohibition
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Check out these other gems from the Public Health is Weird Trivia Series:
When Your Wallpaper is Trying to Kill You
When was Obesity First Called an Epidemic?
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