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"  Not to be a totally downer here, but you might want to be a little extra careful on your vaycays this summer\u2014at least if you plan on doing some bar hopping. According to the Daily Mail, bars around Asia and Europe are increasingly using methanol, instead of &amp;quot;real&amp;quot; alcohol (ethanol), to mix their drinks. In fact, between 1998 and 2008, the number of counterfeit alcohol bottles\u2014mostly vodka, as it turned out\u2014seized by the European Union grew from one million to 250 million. Methanol is cheaper to make but it&amp;#039;s far more toxic than the ethanol used in traditional alcohol. It can cause sickness, severe headaches, breathing problems, blindness, kidney failure\u2014and more\u2014as well as death in extreme cases. (Even just five or six ounces could kill you.) In light of this, you may want to stick to beer and wine when you&amp;#039;re traveling\u2014or at least beware where you imbibe. If a dive bar deal on vodka tonics or mojitos seems too good to be true, it probably is.  Want more from Natasha? Follow her on Twitter or find her on Facebook. Photo: Getty Images  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/health-fitness/news/a13815/bars-using-methanol/>