A man in Chongqing was rushed to hospital yesterday after drinking a “big mouthful” of formalin, a solution of highly lethal formaldehyde. He had received a stomach wash and turned out all right.
The patient stated to his doctor that he made a living by selling “maodu” (毛肚), a food ingredient made of cow’s third stomach and had been in the cow stomach business for twelve years. The formalin he drank was used to preserve the cow stomachs he sells and was stored in a soft drink bottle put in a fridge. Yesterday, under the influence of alcohol, he mistook the chemical solution as soft drink. Fortunately, it only took a gulp to bring him to realize that what he was drinking was poison.
Despite the legal ban, formalin is widely used in China by food producers as a preservative. The man in the report admitted that he had never eaten his own stuff because the smell of formalin made him feel nauseous. It took a long time but eventually he had it coming and drank his fair share.
- Chongqing Times via Sina (Chinese): Drunk man drank formalin in Chongqing