Prohibition Weirdness – The Chemist’s War

In my meanderings about the internet looking for information about Prohibition, territorial waters and the like I was directed to The Chemist’s War, a recent article on Slate.com.  “The Chemist’s War” discusses some Prohibition history that was not only completely new to me, but also more than a little distressing.  Not to give away the article (you really should read it, it’s quite good), I think we are all aware on some level that industrial alcohol is denatured.  Denaturing alcohol, usually by adding methanol, makes it undrinkable.  Nothing particularly new there.  Though I bet you didn’t know that during Prohibition the US government forced producers to increase the additives thus making these products even more poisonous.  Still not hugely scary.  How about the fact that it caused over 1,000 deaths in New York alone?  Got your attention?  Read the article for the twisted but fascinating details.


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