I love sniffing the smoke from this Chinese board when I solder

[Rick Law]

There is another thread talking about Chinese products.  Here is one that really wants customer satisfaction:

Shanghai, China

A Chinese restaurant owner has been arrested after allegedly lacing dishes with opium in an effort to keep customers coming back, BBC News reported.

The owner of the Yan’an noodle shop, known only as Zhang, admitted he bought 4.4 pounds of poppy buds in August. The buds contain the opium poppy seeds, from which the addictive narcotic opium is made.

[rexxar]

That's actually kind of clever.

[Falcon69]

Coca Cola used to put Cocaine in their drinks.

However, at the time, they did it because they believed that cocaine was a natural healing medicine. (i think it is still today to some extent, but not when it's produced with other crap laced in it)

[rexxar]

Coca Cola used to put Cocaine in their drinks.

However, at the time, they did it because they believed that cocaine was a natural healing medicine. (i think it is still today to some extent, but not when it's produced with other crap laced in it)

I think it's still used for something medical...

Yup, according to Wikipedia, it's used as a local anesthetic for nasal/oral/respiratory surgery. Methamphetamines are used for medicinal purposes, I'm pretty sure heroin still has some medicinal uses. Interesting stuff.

[Kjelt]

They should arrest those sigaret makers, they have been putting addictive chemicals in their products since the 60's and I am not only talking about nicotine.

[Shock]

During prohibition in US in the 1920s it's estimated that thousands of people died when the US govt started to poison industrial alcohols to prevent the public from drinking it as a substitute during the alcohol ban.  The US govt was advised people were dying but kept up with the program. It killed others overseas as well, many had no idea they were now drinking poison. People still die from this today although it's less of a surprise.

[dannyf]

It is a practice that has been known and existed for a long time (20+ years by now).

[dannyf]

when the US govt started to poison industrial alcohols

Did they add poison to industrial alcohol or industrial alcohol itself contains poison?

People still die from this today although it's less of a surprise.

Does the US government still add poison to industrial alcohol today? If it doesn't, why do people today still die from drinking industrial alcohol?

Do other governments do that? If other governments don't do it and people still die from drinking industrial alcohol outside the US, what does that tell you about your statement that the US government added poison to industrial alcohol?

Anyway, if they did, sounds like the government strategy worked? Self-selection at work, 

[Artlav]

Do other governments do that?

Not sure about governments, but in Russia it was common to add a few chips of rosin to alcohol handed out in factories for technological needs.

It won't prevent you from cleaning the optics with it, just from using a thin-layer method of doing so.

[tszaboo]

You know, my grandmother used to make cookies from poppy seed. This amount of poppy seed would make 4-5 rolls of these cookie, a family eats one in two days, because it is delicious. Contrary popular belief, it doesn't contain opium, it is not eaten for that effect.

^^This, but half meter long

This is kinda stuff you can buy in the corner bakery all over east europe. Opium usage is non existent. I'm sick of people treating poppy seeds like it is used by hobos to f*ck themselfs up at the ghetto. It is not a drug get over it.

[Kjelt]

In our country they have "spiritus" which is used for cleaning and starting a fire.
It contains: 85% ethanol, 10% water, 3% methanol, 1% aceton en 1% pyridine and a blue colour to distinguish it.
It typically smells bad and the methanol can make you blind. BTW methanol is also often a byproduct from the illegal stills so it is not very healthy to drink self distilled booze unless you know exactly what you are doing (boiling points between methanol and ethanol are 13^oC degrees apart).

[Stonent]

Poppy seeds are not a drug but will show up as opium or heroin on a drug test. They proved that on myth busters.

[N2IXK]

Yes, and they show up of drug tests because they contain morphine and related alkaloids, the same active ingredients in opium, which is the dried sap from the very same plant.