The death toll resulting from dozens of people drinking poisonous bath lotion in Siberia's Irkutsk region since December 17 has risen to at least 76.

Russian regional health officials said on January 9 that three other people are still hospitalized after reportedly poisoning themselves by drinking the poisonous bath lotion despite warning labels on the product saying it is not for internal consumption.

Russia's Investigative Committee said the bath lotion contained methyl wood alcohol -- which can be fatal if consumed -- rather than the ethyl grain alcohol contained in alcoholic beverages.

The Investigative Committee said 22 people suspected of selling the lotion had been detained since the wave of deaths began.

It said eight were later charged, and nine were placed under house arrest, while five others were ordered not to leave the region while investigations continue.

On December 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the government to introduce tougher laws by July 2017 on the production and sale of perfumes, lotions, and household cleaners that contain any type of alcohol.

Putin also called for tighter controls on human and veterinary medicines.

Poisonings with surrogate alcohol are common in Russia, where people sometimes drink substances with alcohol that are cheaper than alcoholic beverages.

Based on reporting on Interfax and TASS</s>Will the methanol fuel cell vehicle (pictured above) kill the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle? In September 2015, the first methanol (wood alcohol) fueling station was opened in Europe. The station is located in Aalborg, Denmark.

Some of the advantages of methanol fuel cell vehicles are:
• Methanol is a liquid and can be easily transported
• Methanol can be produced from local, renewable resources
• Methanol can be produced cheaper than gasoline
• Methanol fuel cell vehicles can have a range of around 500 miles
• Methanol fueling pumps can be easily integrated into existing gasoline stations
• To the consumer, refueling with methanol is very similar to gasoline

On the downside, methanol fuel cell cars are not zero emission vehicles as some CO2 is emitted during operation.

So, will methanol FCEV’s dominate the future landscape of transportation?

According to Jørgen Wisborg, Managing Director at OK, “This hybrid solution is our way of including the electrical car into the transport sector, and we believe that this is one of many ways. We do not want to single out one final winner among the future’s energy technologies for the transport sector, on the contrary we believe that we are going to see more than one technology.”

This is my belief, too. The future won’t be hydrogen cars or battery electric cars or methanol FCEVs. The future will be hydrogen cars AND battery electric vehicles AND methanol FCEVs plus a handful of other alternative fuel vehicles. What is for certain is that we need to #keepitintheground in regard to fossil fuels.</s>"During the new year holidays two more people died as a result of poisoning by 'Hawthorn.' There are still three victims remaining in the hospitals, one in critical condition," Tatiana Shkurskaya, representative of ministry's press service, told RIA Novosti.

Methanol is one of the most widely-used industrial chemicals that can be applied to production of plastics, furniture, automotive parts and fuel blending.

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The death toll from people who drank poisonous methanol in Irkutsk, Russia, rises to 76.