A New Jersey woman has pleaded not guilty to murdering her brother-in-law with an antifreeze-spiked drink. According to prosecutors, Maryann Neabor's weapon of choice was a blended concoction of pineapple juice, maraschino cherries, and several ounces of the deadly automotive additive.

As in similar past cases, the victim was oblivious to his drink's lethality, since antifreeze actually tastes pretty good. Why is something so deadly so delicious?

Ethylene glycol is the ingredient that makes antifreeze tasty. Though colorless and odorless, the syrupy alcohol derivative—which is excellent at lowering the freezing points of vital engine fluids—has a sweet taste that jibes well with soda, juice, and other sugary beverages. As many concerned pet owners and parents are well aware, dogs, cats, and kids are prone to lap up puddles of antifreeze left on garage floors.

Every year, 90,000 animals and 4,000 children ingest the toxic liquid; if not treated immediately, the consequences of the poisoning can include renal or cardiovascular failure, brain damage, and death.

--What? Antifreeze doesn't taste like ass?? Who knew?

Posted by: Lawrenkm at 07:42 AM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
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1 When I was a kid, we had a cat that died from ingesting antifreeze. So sad.

Posted by: Swt GA HunnyB at July 14, 2004 07:47 AM (YTGF3)

2 Having worked as an emergency vet tech in the past, I have seen several animals die from antifreeze ingestion. It's not the way you want to go...let me tell you. You would think that they could add something to make it taste bad, though. With all of the deaths that occur from this, that would be my top priority as CEO of one of these companies. I mean, really, they can add smell to gas so that fatalities don't occur. Why can't they add taste to this fluid?

Posted by: Linda at July 14, 2004 08:46 AM (9Pzdi)

3 Ya know it's sad that a lot of people intentionally leave out antifreeze just to kill animals. Yea...you would think they would make the stuff taste awful!

Posted by: Kelly at July 14, 2004 08:58 AM (E2iNO)

4 OK, I now have my way of murdering someone that is a "little different". I never knew about antifreeze not tasting bad. All this time, I thought my method of choice was gonna be a high power nail gun.

Posted by: Brad at July 14, 2004 10:59 AM (PS936)

5 I wonder how any"copycats"we will see from this one now? I know this will not be the only one there will be more to come. I just might need to file this one away for future use...lol

Posted by: Sweet N Sassy at July 14, 2004 12:30 PM (paZGf)

6 Damn. Been drinking the stuff for 20 years and couldn't figure out why I felt rough.

Posted by: Cancergiggles at July 15, 2004 06:18 AM (3U7in)

7 I guess it's true - everything that tastes good is bad for you.

Posted by: Tony at July 15, 2004 01:14 PM (QwFky)

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