National Security operatives in Kumasi have kicked off a targeted crackdown to clear the streets of a dangerous homemade drink that's been quietly circulating for years.

Madara Sukudai is popularly sold as a “heart cleanser” that many young people swear by for giving their chest a fresh, burning “clean” feeling.

What started as whispers and street sales, often in Zongos and around auto mechanic shops, peddled by some Nigerien traders and a few locals, has now been exposed as seriously toxic.

Preliminary lab tests at KNUST's Department of Pharmacology shattered the myth: the concoction isn't some harmless herbal brew.

It contains acetone (the stuff in nail polish remover and paint thinner), zinc chloride (a corrosive chemical used in batteries and wood treatment), and ethanol as a base.

According to a report on myjoyonline.com, the evidence was brutal. In acute toxicity tests, lab rats given low, medium, or high doses all died within 24 hours.

“We used rats for this experiment and we gave different doses from low to medium and then high doses of the product to the group of rats in each cage and within 24 hours all the rats died and we usually look at their behaviour etc but before we could say jack all the rats had died and initially we put some of the samples in universal bottles which are usually plastic and they all melted and then just a spill off of the product also melted the takeaway containers,” Head of the Department of Pharmacology at KNUST, Professor Cynthia Amaning Danquah, said.

The mixture was so aggressive that it even melted plastic takeaway bowls and universal bottles.

Professor Danquah, visibly concerned, explained in plain terms why this is alarming for anyone drinking it.

“Preliminary tests show that the product contains organic solvents like acetone, zinc chloride, and ethanol. Just to give a fair idea to the layman, acetone is usually found in the nail polish that women use for acrylic nails, so we don't take it. Then, zinc chloride is also corrosive in terms of organic solvents and other things. So it can cause gastric irritation if taken, so it immediately tells you that this is not something that should even be consumed. So, right on the surface value, this is not something that should be consumed. It is corrosive, and it will cause GI (gastrointestinal) irritation and can result in serious damage to the liver and the kidneys, so to learn that people are consuming this is a great concern to us,” she said.

Even sellers reportedly refuse to drink it themselves when challenged. Ashanti Regional Deputy Security Coordinator Alhaji Njeh Abdallah Umar, who led the operation that arrested a key trader in Aboabo after weeks of surveillance, called it a clear national security and public health threat.

“What has been given to a rodent in less than 24 hours has killed it. You don't know who is consuming it, but they are Ghanaians. And the most interesting aspect is that those selling it, when you tell them to drink it, they will not. Even if you force them, they are not going to drink it. And it has been in the system for many years. When I was young, I saw them selling it in town. So we know what is happening now. It explains some of our health issues involving internal organs, the kidneys, the liver, and other organs, as far as the health issues are concerned. So it means we have to rise and fight it,” he said.

A kidney specialist at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Professor Elliot Koranteng Tannor, has seen too many puzzling cases of unexplained kidney damage and is deeply worried. He suspects the burning sensation people feel in their chest, what they call “cleansing,” is actually the corrosives eating away at their insides.

“These things are not things that you hope, especially the zinc chloride and then the acetone, that you would want to take into your body. But my thinking is that it gives them some burning sensation in their chest. And that is what they are calling 'cleansing their chests,' which I'm afraid, because of how corrosive the zinc chloride is, it might end up messing with or affecting their gut, and not that alone,” Professor Elliot Koranteng Tannor said.

He added that if absorbed, it could wreck the liver and kidneys fast, possibly so quickly that victims don't even survive long enough for long-term damage to show.

Worse, people rarely admit to drinking it when they end up in the ER with mysterious symptoms, leaving doctors guessing.

“If it is absorbed into their body, then there's a tendency that it can affect their liver and their kidney. But from the research that was done, it is clear that most likely if they take it in toxic amounts, they might not live long enough for us to even see its effect on their kidney and liver, and so on and so forth, because of the nature of what they are taking. For me as a nephrologist, the other worrying aspect is that if you are to see this person in your ER or in your hospital, with some complaints you cannot even understand, they will not even tell you what medications they took. And you'll be scratching your head about why their kidney function or their liver function is this way.”

KNUST is pushing ahead with longer-term chronic toxicity studies examining organs, liver enzymes, blood, and cells under microscopes, but Professor Danquah isn't waiting for final results to sound the alarm.

“Some of these things take time, like chronic disease studies; you should do at least one to three months. I mean, and to be sure of what is actually happening, because as I said, we’ll take out the organs and then do further biochemical tests, measure the liver enzymes and look at all the cells under the microscope, do some haematology, etc., and so we'll just advise that people stay away from it,” she stated.

National Security is now teaming up across regions to stamp out Sukudai nationwide.

NA/BAI

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