<P> Despite its poisonous content, denatured alcohol is sometimes consumed as a surrogate alcohol . This potentially can result in blindness or death if it contains methanol . For instance, during the American Prohibition, federal law required methanol in domestically - manufactured industrial alcohols . On Christmas Day, 1926, and the two following days, which was roughly at the midpoint of the "Great Experiment" of nationwide alcohol prohibition, 31 people in New York City alone died of methanol poisoning . To help prevent this, denatonium is often added to give the substance an extremely bitter flavor . Substances such as pyridine are added to give the mixture an unpleasant odor, and agents such as syrup of ipecac may also be included to induce emesis (vomiting). </P> <P> New Zealand has removed methanol from its government - approved "methylated spirits" formulation . </P> <P> Different additives are used to make it difficult to use distillation or other simple processes to reverse the denaturation . Methanol is commonly used both because its boiling point is close to that of ethanol and because it is toxic . Another typical denaturant is pyridine . Often the denatured alcohol is dyed with methyl violet . </P> <P> There are several grades of denatured alcohol, but in general the denaturants used are similar . As an example, the formulation for completely denatured alcohol, according to 2005 British regulations was as follows: </P>

Is wood alcohol the same as denatured alcohol