Cambodia: Ministry in push to finalise consumer protection laws

• Aug 23, 2021

Cambodia’s Commerce Minister is putting pressure on the Department of Skills to finalise draft laws to protect consumers, stamp out unfair competition and crack down on fraud.

Pan Sorasak says the regulations would make trade in the Kingdom better and fairer. The minister stated officials at every level need to be professional and accountable to the law. He said they should cooperate with the relevant authorities without creating barriers to trade within the country.

While a consumer protection law is being drafted, Sorasak said officers must step up fraud investigations and inspections to stop the sale of faulty and counterfeit goods. He said it is not enough to carry out checks only when people have died or been injured by defective products.

He also added that professional bodies need to educate the public about the dangers of tainted alcohol and that laboratories should analyse more samples to discover drinks that have been mixed with methanol.

Adulterated rice wine damages the liver, kidneys and brain and can cause headaches, vomiting, breathing difficulties and loss of consciousness. The commerce ministry said 28 people died from rice wine poisoning and more than 100 had taken ill between 2016 and 2020.

On May 12, people died from drinking tainted alcohol in Kandal province. Laboratory tests revealed high methanol levels in the rice wine. In Kampot province 10 more died in May of the same cause.

The same month, authorities in Phnom Penh destroyed nearly 12,000 litres of methanol and tainted alcohol. In June they destroyed 18,000 litres. Methanol is an industrial alcohol, harmless in its pure form, but potentially lethal when mixed because  it converts into formic acid.

According to data collected by Medecins Sans Frontieres, 2020 racked up nearly 7,000 cases and 1,607 deaths related to methanol poisoning – enough to make the year the deadliest on record. Knut Erik Hovda, a physician at Oslo University Hospital, and the world’s leading expert in methanol poisoning, said these cases likely represent only the proverbial tip of the iceberg.

“Methanol poisoning is an extremely under-recognised problem and we also know that just a fraction of those ever get diagnosed,” Hovda said.

Methanol is used as an industrial solvent. Because it is so cheap and mimics the properties of ethanol, unscrupulous manufacturers will often dilute costlier alcohols with methanol. The problem is most common in countries with lax regulations or those dependent on black market booze. Disruptions from Covid-19 have made adulterated ethanol even more common, which has led to a spike in methanol poisoning, both in bottom-shelf liquor and in products like hand sanitiser.

“Regardless of how cheap you can produce your own alcohol, you can always get hold of cheaper industrial methanol. By mixing methanol into the liquor, you would be able to sell much more alcohol and make much more money from it,” Hovda added.

Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50920848/ministry-in-push-to-finalise-consumer-protection-laws/