Warning about soft drinks extended to San Luis R.C. after fatality

A warning against drinking a popular brand of soda pop has been extended to San Luis Rio Colorado, Son., following a death and nine reported cases of poisonings in neighboring Baja California linked to bottled 7-Ups.

The warning, issued by the city’s health department, followed the release of autopsy results that linked the death to methamphetamine poisoning, in turn fueling rumors and jokes on social media and other forums about bottled drinks in Baja California being spiked.

“What happened is not a joke,” said Daniel de la Paz Walker, director of the Municipal Health Department in San Luis Rio Colorado. “People think it is, but it’s not,” he said

He urging residents of the border city neighboring Yuma County to avoid drinking bottled 7-Up until health authorities in Baja California ascertain the cause of the poisonings.

Baja California’s Health Ministry confirmed this week that more than 77,000 bottles of 7-Up had been recalled from store shelves in the Mexicali area. Residents of that city were urged not to consume the drink pending a determination of the cause of the poisonings.

Meanwhile, Mexican news media, reported this week that a Sonora state health commission had conducted an inspection and taken samples at a Pepsi Cola bottling plant in Hermosillo, Son., that distributes bottled 7-Up to San Luis Rio Colorado and various other cities in the state as well as to Mexicali.

Concerns about the bottled drinks surfaced following the reported death Sunday of an unidentifed 33-year-old man at a clinic in Ejido Nuevo Leon, a tiny farming community located south of Mexicali and

about 32 miles southwest of San Luis Rio Colorado. Family members said he had previously consumed a bottle of 7-Up.

Nine other people in that area were treated for similar symptoms after reportedly consuming the same drink. Five ended up being hospitalized, while four others were treated and released.

Cesar Gonzalez, director of forensic medical services for Baja California, on Tuesday made the autopsy results public, showing the victim had suffered methamphetamine poisoning.

The autopsy could not determine the type and quantity of methamphetamine consumed or whether the meth was contained in the drink, he said.

Those questions could be answered later this week or next week in follow up testing overseen by the state prosecutor’s office, he said.