Fake alcohol rampant in HCM City The yeast and many other chemicals to make spirits have no origin or label but they are sold widely at markets in HCM City.   The yeast is sold at a chemical store for a price of VND40,000 (USD1.76)per kilo. According to a motorbike taxi driver, because the police are carrying out many inspections, the stores now only sell to regular customers. Another store in Binh Tay Market said they had various types with prices ranging from VND40,000 to VND70,000. "A kilo of yeast can make 40 litres of spirit. Just mix the yeast with water, whatever water you want. You can buy aroma chemicals to make it taste more like famous spirits," the seller said. The motorbike taxi driver said most of them were cheap chemicals from China and likely to cause great harm to the consumers. "Buy it for experiments but don't make spirits for sale, it's unethical. Most of the buyers are poor people. It's dangerous," he said.   The yeast and many other chemicals to make spirits have no origin or label. Nguyen Nhu Hai, a traditional spirit seller, said there were four required basic steps in the spirit making and depending on the types of spirit that the time of distillation can last from 30 to more than 100 days. He went on to say that fake spirit was not only harmful to the consumers but also to the traditional spirit making industry as some stores are selling thousands of litres of fake spirits. "A traditional spirit store can only supply a few hundreds of litres per month, not thousands of litres like major factories," he said. "The fake spirits have a very strong smell and will shock the consumers. It will evaporate and lose the aroma quickly if it is poured down the ground." Doctors and experts also advise against fake spirits as most of them contain methanol which can cause severe poisoning reactions such as nausea, hard breathing and possible acute kidney failure, blindness or brain death. Dtinews