Man drinks petrol for 42 years
You won't be seeing it in the health drinks aisle at your local supermarket, but one man has spend the last 42 years drinking petrol to ease pain.
The Chinese man, Chen Dejun, believed the fuel had properties that would help him with his physical pain and drank three to 3.5 kilograms of the stuff a month.
The 71-year-old would buy the liquid from a petrol station at the foot of a hill in the Shuijiang township, the People's Daily Online reported.
Chen became addicted to drinking kerosene back in 1969 when traditional remedies failed to cure coughing and pain in his chest. He tried the liquid, considered a folk remedy at the time, and felt better.
He later switched to gasoline.
He moved to his cottage to be by himself after his wife and children tried to break him from his addiction.
Despite some emphysema, he is physically in good shape according to sources from Honglou Hospital in Chongqing.
An associate professor with the Second Hospital Affiliated to Chongqing Medical University believes that Chen's body has adapted in a way that allows him to drink the petrol, and may be only masking the man's pain as an anesthetic.
