Originally Posted by Reuters

HYDERABAD (Reuters) - Forty people have died from drinking home-made alcohol in southern India over the past five days, including 17 attending the funeral of a man who was also poisoned by toxic brew, officials said on Wednesday.

Farmer D. Jaggaiah died on Saturday in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh after consuming moonshine that had been smuggled from neighbouring Orissa.

Ten people died and 16 were hospitalised after toasting Jaggaiah at his funeral in Ratta Kanna village, 730 km (450 miles) north-east of the state capital Hyderabad.

Seven more victims died in hospital on Tuesday, according to local official Y. Chaitanya Murali.

The mourners knew Jaggaiah had died from consuming a deadly brew but, following a custom of drinking toasts at funerals, they apparently assumed their drink was safe. It was not clear whether the same batch of alcohol was to blame for the deaths.

Officials said another 23 people died after drinking country liquor in border villages in Orissa over the past five days. While Andhra Pradesh had banned the production and consumption of so-called country liquor, it is a licensed product in Orissa and smuggling is rampant, officials say.

The drink sells for as little as eight rupees (18 cents) a bottle, one-third of the price of commercial liquor.

Toxic varieties are made from regular spirits, to which bootleggers add a cocktail of ingredients that could include vegetables, battery acid and pieces of old rubber tyre. According to common lore, such ingredients can make the brew more intoxicating.

The deadly mix is then boiled and distilled, and kills hundreds of poor Indians every year.

Originally Posted by pozzi

extermination of the stupid on a broad scale...why hasn't this caught on in more third world countries...matter of fact, why limit it to third world countries...bring on the mass stupidity cleansing to the interweb!