Alcohol poisoning in Poldasht leaves dozens poisoned and one victim

According to reports from Iran, poisoning caused by homemade and counterfeit liquor during a ceremony in Poldasht, a city in West Azerbaijan, has left at least 45 people poisoned, one of whom has lost his life.

Iranian domestic media quoted the head of the West Azerbaijan Medical Accident and Emergency Center as saying that 11 people have been hospitalized so far.

Baqer Bahrami said, "The liver, kidneys, and eyes of these people have suffered the most damage from consuming counterfeit and homemade liquor."

The state-run Islamic Republic News Agency says police have arrested three people in connection with the incident.

Mr. Bahrami told Iranian news agencies that from March 10 of last year to May 4 of this year, at least 127 people in West Azerbaijan province have been poisoned due to the use of homemade and counterfeit alcoholic beverages, and at least 10 citizens have lost their lives.

In early April, Hojjat Pourfathi, deputy director of medical treatment at Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, also reported that 238 people had been poisoned by alcohol in East Azerbaijan Province within a month, and said that at least ten people had lost their lives.

Since the consumption and production of alcoholic beverages in Iran is essentially considered a crime, there is no systematic or health supervision over its production.

Mostafa Tajzadeh, a former political director of the Islamic Republic government, last month called for the government to reconsider the issue of "alcoholic beverages" and described the fight against it as a "failed" policy.

Source: Radio Farda