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Gasoline powers vehicles all around the world, but a
sick Chinese man has been drinking the sticky liquid for 44 years under
the illusion that it can relieve his physical pain.
Chen Dejun, 73, lives by himself in shabby thatched cottage on a hill in
Shuijiang township, Nanchuan district of southwest China's Chongqing
municipality. The short and bony man said he drinks 3 to 3.5 kilograms
of gasoline every month, which he buys from a station at the foot of the
hill.
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Chen is known locally as a stonecutter and master of weaving bamboo with
a good business sense. But he’s also known for his undying love of
drinking gasoline.
He developed the habit back in 1969 when he suddenly began coughing and
felt pain in his chest. Seeing no progress after trying some medicine,
he took up the folk remedy of drinking kerosene, Chongqing Evening News
reported. |
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It turned out to be helpful for him after the first sip, and he since
became addicted to kerosene. Then he moved on to gasoline.
Chen said it is hard to calculate exactly how much gasoline he has
swallowed throughout his life, but the newspaper reported Chen has
consumed an estimated 1.5 tons over the past 44 years. |
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Chen's wife Yuan Huibi and their three sons tried many times to stop
Chen's addiction to gasoline, but those efforts only made the family
relations tense. Eight years ago Chen moved to the cottage to live
alone.
Sources from Honglou Hospital in Chongqing said Chen‘s health is fine
despite having symptoms of emphysema. Chen refused to receive free check
ups from the hospital. |
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Feng Fu, an associate professor with the Second Hospital Affiliated to
Chongqing Medical University, said Chen may have developed some
resistance to gasoline. Otherwise, Feng said, it would be impossible for
Chen to live. Feng also said gasoline may only work as anaesthetic for
Chen but can’t cure his pain.
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