Booze lose: Aussies risk health with illicit alcohol
Unsuspecting Australians could be drinking tainted illegal alcohol stocked in regular bottle shops, putting them at risk of serious health problems.
Researchers from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, UNSW and the National Drug Research Institute found that almost one in three bottle shops visited in Victoria contained suspected illicit alcohol products.
The team has since visited more than 200 stores in different socio-economic areas across NSW, Victoria and Queensland, finding the same proportion of bottle shops selling suspected illegal alcohol.
“We found that regular bottle shops were stocking products we suspected were illegal and contained contaminants,” postdoctoral research fellow Michala Kowalski told AAP.
People may be lulled into a false sense of security by thinking their products are legitimate because they bought them from a regular bottle shop, but the risks can be deadly, as researchers have found traces of methanol and plastic in some products.
“Methanol, if you have a high enough concentration, can actually cause seizures, blindness and even poisoning that can be fatal,” Dr Kowalski said.
The researchers said methanol concentrations in the products they tested were below the lethal threshold.
“But finding it is a really big concern in terms of product quality, and we don’t know what’s in other products,” he said.
Plastic particles, which have been linked to cancer, were also found in some bottles.
Illegal alcohol has been seized from overseas markets at Australian borders, but Dr Kowalski said some of the products tested in the investigation were produced locally.
The investigation comes as Melbourne’s nightlife areas face intense arson attacks and Victoria Police is investigating illicit alcohol as one of the possible motivations behind firebombings.
“We’re getting a lot of information from the public, from the industry, about some of the complexities of the alcohol industry, such as illicit alcohol, homemade alcohol and so on,” Detective Inspector Jason Kelly said.
Industry insiders believe attacks on the city’s nightlife venues are linked to underworld figures struggling to control the growing illegal alcohol trade.
A well-known industry source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Melbourne was at risk of a new tobacco war as criminal figures forced hospitality venues to use their illegal products.
“This is all about stupidly high state excise taxes and alcohol taxes,” the source, who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, told AAP.
“There is now so much money in the sale of this cheap overseas tax-free alcohol… criminals and bikers are involved just like they did with white packs of cigarettes and e-cigarettes when the government overtaxed real cigarettes.”
Dr Kowalski said a whole-of-government response would be needed to address the problem, including regulatory changes and enforcement, and tax policy alone would not solve the problem.
“If you keep increasing (taxes), that could cause (the illicit market) to grow further, but the flip side is not necessarily true because it’s already very well established,” he said.
Consumers can reduce their risks by staying loyal to brands and stores they trust, watching out for unreasonable prices, and paying attention to bottle quality, including missing pregnancy warnings or barcodes on labels.
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