A Belgian man has skipped a drink-driving charge as he allegedly suffers from auto-brewery syndrome (ABS).
The rare metabolic condition causes his body to produce alcohol naturally. As a result, charges against him were dismissed in court on Monday.
His lawyer, Anse Ghesquiere, confirmed the unusual case and said that scientists believe the number of ABS cases in the world is underestimated.
The rare condition shows alcohol in the system, but with no obvious symptoms of intoxication. Only around 20 people around the world have been officially diagnosed with the condition, writes the South China Morning Post.
“Another unfortunate coincidence”
The man’s lawyer told Reuters that her client also works at a brewery, which further complicated the case. She confimred however that three doctors who independently examined him confirmed that he indeed suffers from ABS.
The 40-year-old Belgian, whose name was not given in line with local judicial custom, proved to the court that he has ABS.
The condition causes carbohydrates in his stomach to be fermented. This increases ethanol levels in his blood.
Belgian media said that in the verdict, the judge emphasised that the defendant did not experience symptoms of intoxication.
Over the limit for drink-driving
The man faced the court hearing following two incidents where police stopped his vehicle in April 2022.
On both occasions, he registered breathalyser readings of 0.91 milligrams and 0.71 milligrams of alcohol per litre of air exhaled. In Belgium, the legal alcohol limit for non-professional drivers is 0.22 milligrams per litre of breath.
This equates to 0.5g per litre of blood, usually measured by a blood test in hospital. Belgian laws also allow a driver to wait 15 minutes before blowing into a breathalyser device.
Back in 2019, he had already been fined and had his driving licence suspended despite his claims of not consuming any alcohol.
It was only during his recent encounters with law enforcement that he became aware of his auto-brewery syndrome. To manage his condition, he had adopted a low-carbohydrate diet to minimise the alcohol production in his stomach.