A research carried out by a US-based Uganda researcher has revealed that most of Ugandan Waragi (gin) packed in sachets contains high levels of cancer-causing toxic chemicals, and is therefore potentially dangerous to its consumers. The cancer-causing elements found in the said local alcohol sold in sachets include such deadly minerals such as arsenic, lead and chromium, copper, manganese, among others.
Professor Ochan Otim, of the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles, is the academic behind the research that could go a long way in guiding how Uganda deals with cheap local gin (Waragi) that’s widely produced by ever-mushrooming distilleries around the country.,
After a two-year study, whose findings have been published in a US opensource scientific journal called PLOS ONE, Prof. Ochan now reckons the risk of developing cancer is high among sachet-gin-drinkers.
During the study, the researcher tested two separate laboratory samples from 17 popular spirit products (13 industrially-produced samples in sachets, and four samples of the non-packed local gin called Lira-Lira, which is produced in non-industrial settings using rudimentary methods).
“Quantitatively, copper had the highest concentrations recorded in any spirit brand, followed by barium and manganese –each of these three had individual concentrations higher than the combined levels of selenium, arsenic, nickel, Bvanadium, chromiumand tin in all brands,” the author’s report stated.
Of the 17 sampled spirits, Uganda Waragi and Bond 7 Whisky (both made by East African Breweries Limited and Uganda Breweries) had the lowest detectable levels of metals and surprisingly compared well with levels in the Lira-lira spirits, which didn’t contain the dangerous concetrations.
According to the report the Lira Lira spirits with 100 6,000% copper above the US Environmental Protection Agency Limit for intake by oral ingestion in water would be the cleanest without copper and at par with the Scottish Whisky. Collectively,we find that no amount of alcohol consumed in Acholi is safe.