2016 Irkutsk mass methanol poisoning

Poisoning in Irkutsk, Siberia, Russia December 2016 December 2016 74–78death toll Consumption of adulterated surrogate alcohol Irkutsk, Russia inline yes yes center point Irkutsk, the location of the poisonings, overlaid on a map of Siberia and nearby countries 52 17 N 104 17 E 1 In December 2016, over 70 people dieddeath toll Secondary sources have put the number of deaths at 74,Effectiveness of policy changes to reduce harm from unrecorded alcohol in Russia between 2005 and now International Journal of Drug Policy Maria Neufeld Jürgen Rehm January 2018 51 1–9 10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.09.006 29031132 76,https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/18/world/europe/russia-tainted-booze-putin.html Where the Booze Can Kill, and Putin Is Deemed a 'Good Czar' The New York Times MacFarquhar Neil Neil MacFarquhar 2017-02-18 2017-03-05 26 February 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170226180546/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/18/world/europe/russia-tainted-booze-putin.html live subscription and 78.2017-01-09 В Иркутске число жертв отравления "Боярышником" увеличилось до 78 человек In Irkutsk, the number of victims of the "Hawthorn" poisoning has increased to 78 people https://ria.ru/20170109/1485271612.html 2024-08-19 RIA Novosti ru Supporting the 74 figure, an official forensic medical investigation seen by scientists Maria Neufeld and Jürgen Rehm found that "out of the 78 deceased, 74 died because of methanol poisoning and the rest died because of consumption of large amounts of ethanol". At least one source, an article in the Siberian Medical Journal, gave both 76 and 78.Yu.V. Zobnin E.L. Vygovsky M.A. Degtyareva B.M. Lyubimov A.F. Malykh I.P. Teterina A.B. Tretyakov T.D. Lelyukh Yu.N. Ostapenko Массовое отравление метиловым спиртом в Иркутске в декабре 2016 года Mass poisoning with methanol in Irkutsk in December 2016 Siberian Medical Journal July–September 2017 150 3 29–36 1815-7572 https://www.bmjour.ru/jour/issue/viewIssue/15/10 ru 10.57256/2949-0715-2017-3 11 July 2025 free of methanol poisoning in the Russian city of Irkutsk. Caused by the consumption of adulterated surrogate alcohol, it was the deadliest such incident in Russia's post-Soviet history. Russian consumption of surrogate alcohol rose rapidly in the early 2010s amid worsening economic conditions. Surrogates cost less than government-regulated vodka and were commonly available from supermarkets, small shops, and vending machines. In the Irkutsk incident, people drank hawthorn-scented bath oil with the brand name ru-Latn Boyaryshnik no. While the product was typically made with and labeled as containing drinkable ethanol, at least one batch was made instead with a toxic amount of methanol. The resulting poisoning led to dozens of hospitalizations and deaths among residents of the ru-Latn Novo-Lenino no neighborhood in Irkutsk. A subsequent government investigation found that the surrogate alcohol's producer sourced the methanol from an employee of a local windshield washer fluid production facility. In response to the poisoning, in mid-2017 the Russian government increased the penalties for illegally producing and selling alcohol and made it more difficult to acquire surrogate alcohols. Background Alcohol in Russia In the 2010s, the economy of Russia suffered from a financial crisis, depressed oil prices, and international sanctions put into place during the Ukrainian crisis.http://carnegie.ru/2017/02/02/decline-not-collapse-bleak-prospects-for-russia-s-economy-pub-67865 Decline, Not Collapse: The Bleak Prospects for Russia's Economy Movchan Andrey Carnegie Moscow Center Andrey Movchan 2017-02-02 2017-03-05 6 March 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170306210330/http://carnegie.ru/2017/02/02/decline-not-collapse-bleak-prospects-for-russia-s-economy-pub-67865 live In Irkutsk Oblast, citizens' buying power fell between 2013 and 2017. Russians did see an increase in average salary per capita during that period, but rising prices on a number of important items—such as food, consumer goods, and housing—meant that their paychecks covered fewer essential expenses.Topilin A. 2022 Economic Growth and the Standard of Living in Irkutsk Oblast: A Case of Study of Regional Imbalance https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10611991.2022.2141545 Problems of Economic Transition 63 4–6 212–223 10.1080/10611991.2022.2141545 1061-1991 subscription By 2016, the number of people living below the government-established poverty line of 10,000 rubles per month (about $170 at the time) had increased by over three percent over the previous four years. upright=1.35|thumb|Average alcohol consumption per person in 2015 per World Health Organization data|alt=A map of the world with countries sorted by the number of liters of alcohol that were consumed per person in 2015. Russia is in the 10–12-liter range. At the same time, Russia remained one of the highest consumers of alcohol per capita in the world. According to the World Health Organization, Russian citizens consumed an estimated average of 11.7 L gal us per person every year (as of 2016).Vladimir Poznyak Dag Rekve 2018 Global status report on alcohol and health 2018 https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/274603/9789241565639-eng.pdf#page=363 Appendix I Geneva World Health Organization 345 978-92-4-156563-9The World Health Organization said that their estimated consumption total covers "recorded and unrecorded alcohol per capital consumption" in individuals aged 15 or higher. About a third of that was unrecorded alcohol, including illegal and surrogate alcohols.Solodun Yuriy Monakhova Yulia Kuballa Thomas Samokhvalov Andriy Rehm Jürgen Lachenmeier Dirk 2011-12-01 Unrecorded alcohol consumption in Russia: toxic denaturants and disinfectants pose additional risks https://content.sciendo.com/doi/10.2478/v10102-011-0030-x Interdisciplinary Toxicology 4 4 198–205 10.2478/v10102-011-0030-x 1337-9569 3274728 22319254Experts estimated that surrogate alcohols alone made up twenty percent of the total alcohol consumed in Russia.Puzyrev Denis Kravtsov Anton 24 November 2016 Расследование РБК: как «аптечный алкоголизм» покоряет Россию RBC investigation: How "pharmacy alcoholism" is conquering Russia RBK Group https://www.rbc.ru/investigation/business/24/11/2016/5836fabd9a7947f82e05d12b https://web.archive.org/web/20161125044034/https://www.rbc.ru/investigation/business/24/11/2016/5836fabd9a7947f82e05d12b 25 November 2016 ru Surrogate alcohols thrived because even the cheapest legal vodkas, carrying government-regulated prices, could not compete with surrogates that retailed for far less.Nick Connolly A city in shock 2016-12-25 https://www.dw.com/en/siberian-city-in-shock-after-russian-bath-lotion-deaths/a-36885336 2023-03-09 Deutsche Welle 9 March 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230309050903/https://www.dw.com/en/siberian-city-in-shock-after-russian-bath-lotion-deaths/a-36885336 live Walker Shaun Shaun Walker (journalist) 2016-12-19 Siberian city declares emergency as dozens die from drinking alcoholic bath tincture https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/19/russia-irkutsk-surrogate-alcohol-siberia 2024-08-15 The Guardian Some surrogates cost over 90% less.Neufeld Maria Lachenmeier Dirk Hausler Thomas Rehm Jürgen November 2016 Surrogate alcohol containing methanol, social deprivation and public health in Novosibirsk, Russia https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0955395916302663 International Journal of Drug Policy en 37 107–110 10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.08.001 As a result, more than ten million Russians routinely purchased such alcohol,Walker Shaun The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past New York Oxford University Press 2018 978-0-19-065924-0 248 and its consumption had increased by as much as 65 percent since the introduction of an alcohol excise tax in 2009.Panin Alexander 2015-02-02 Russia Cuts Price of Vodka Amid Double-Digit Inflation https://www.themoscowtimes.com/archive/russia-cuts-price-of-vodka-amid-double-digit-inflation 2024-08-23 The Moscow Times This widespread use had led to increasing amounts of alcohol poisonings,Andreev Evgeny Bogoyavlensky Dmitri Stickley Andrew March–April 2013 Comparing Alcohol Mortality in Tsarist and Contemporary Russia: Is the Current Situation Historically Unique? Alcohol and Alcoholism 48 2 215–221 10.1093/alcalc/ags132 0735-0414 free 23316073 adding to a problem that was already severe in Russia.Stickley A. Leinsalu M. Andreev E. Razvodovsky Y. Vagero D. McKee M. October 2007 Alcohol poisoning in Russia and the countries in the European part of the former Soviet Union, 1970 2002 European Journal of Public Health 17 5 444–449 10.1093/eurpub/ckl275 1101-1262 free 17327281 right Examples of hawthorn-scented bath oil ru-Latn Boyaryshnik no, the surrogate alcohol brand involved in the poisoning, and the location where it was produced (via TASS) ru-Latn Boyaryshnik no and other similar surrogate alcohols (via TASS) Images of ru-Latn Boyaryshnik no and shops that sold it (via RIA Novosti) The mass methanol poisoning in Irkutsk, a city of about 600,000 people near Lake Baikal in southern Siberia,2016-12-19 Dozens die in Russia after drinking bath oil https://www.dw.com/en/dozens-die-in-russia-after-drinking-bath-oil/a-36827937 2024-09-06 Deutsche Welle was caused by an adulterated batch of alcoholic hawthorn-scented bath oil. It was named ru-Latn Boyaryshnik no (ru «Боярышник»), the Russian word for hawthorn, and was also described as a lotion.2016-12-21 Russia bath lotion poisoning: Number of dead rises to 58 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38384892 2024-08-15 BBC News The product shared its name with a popular hawthorn-flavored tincture, and vodka historian Alexander Nikishin told the magazine Vice that was a deliberate choice to obfuscate its intended purpose: The name ru-Latn Boyaryshnik no is used to hide the nature of this product. ... You can buy ru-Latn Boyaryshnik no in a pharmacy, a medicinal tincture. And then there is the ru-Latn Boyaryshnik no spirit, which they call medicinal, but really it's just alcohol with the taste of ru-Latn Boyaryshnik no. It's bootlegging, pure and simple.Luhn Alec 2016-12-22 72 Russians have died this week from drinking bath oil because they couldn't afford real alcohol https://www.vice.com/en/article/72-russians-have-died-this-week-from-drinking-bath-oil-because-they-couldnt-afford-real-alcohol/ 2024-08-13 Vice ru-Latn Boyaryshnik no bottles were typically half the size of vodka, but their alcohol content was so high that individuals could dilute them to a similar alcohol by volume.https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/world/after-72-die-putin-tightens-limits-on-consumer-products-high-in-alcohol.html After 72 Die, Putin Tightens Limits on Consumer Products High in Alcohol Ivan Nechepurenko Ivan Nechepurenko The New York Times 2016-12-22 2016-12-22 25 December 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20161225014548/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/world/after-72-die-putin-tightens-limits-on-consumer-products-high-in-alcohol.html live subscription They carried clear warnings that they were not intended for consumption.Filipov David Schmidt Samantha 2021-10-25 Nearly 50 people dead from alcohol poisoning after drinking bath oil in Siberian city https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/12/19/33-people-dead-from-alcohol-poisoning-after-drinking-bath-lotion-in-siberian-city/ 2024-08-15 The Washington Post subscription However, many Russians knew that the product was meant to be a cheap vodka substitute and government authorities condoned its sale. These sorts of surrogate alcohols were widely available in Russian supermarkets, shops, and vending machines. They were also not subject to any legal age requirement, alcohol excise stamps, or other restrictions introduced in the early 2010s to curb alcohol consumption in the country. The vending machines were particularly problematic: they were highly profitable, available 24 hours a day, and often deliberately placed near impoverished areas of Russian cities to appeal to people seeking a cheap alternative to legal alcohol.Kupfer Matthew 2016-11-25 Reports Show Russia's Illegal 'Pharmacy-Alcohol' Industry Is Booming https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/report-russias-illegal-pharmacy-alcohol-industry-growing-56313 live https://web.archive.org/web/20170602170127/https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/report-russias-illegal-pharmacy-alcohol-industry-growing-56313 2 June 2017 2017-03-05 The Moscow Times Research in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk showed that many customers of surrogate alcohols like bath oil were heavy drinkers and poor. Methanol poisoning and its symptoms Methanol toxicity thumb|right|A vial of methanol, the substance that caused the mass poisoning, next to a vial of ethanol, the substance commonly called "alcohol" Methanol is a poisonous substance.https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/world/europe/russia-bath-lotion-deaths.html In Russia, Dozens Die After Drinking Alcohol Substitute Nechepurenko Ivan 2016-12-19 The New York Times 2016-12-19 19 December 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20161219211414/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/world/europe/russia-bath-lotion-deaths.html live subscriptionMethanol is also known as methyl alcohol or wood alcohol, and it has the chemical formula CH3OH.Wade Leroy G. Physical properties of alcohols https://www.britannica.com/science/alcohol/Physical-properties-of-alcohols 2024-08-18 Encyclopædia Britannica It is difficult to tell apart from ethanol,Ethanol is also known as ethyl alcohol or grain alcohol, and it has the chemical formula CH3CH2OH. the substance found in vodka and other alcoholic drinks. Both are colorless and give off a similar odor, but methanol is cheaper.Nekoukar Zahra Zakariaei Zakaria Taghizadeh Fatemeh Musavi Fatemeh Banimostafavi Elham Sadat Sharifpour Ali Ghuchi Nasrin Ebrahim Fakhar Mahdi Tabaripour Rabeeh Safanavaei Sepideh June 2021 Methanol poisoning as a new world challenge: A review Annals of Medicine & Surgery 66 10.1016/j.amsu.2021.102445 2049-0801 8187162 34141419 Methanol can enter the body when drunk, when placed on the skin, or when the vapors are inhaled. Amounts as small as 10 ml USfloz us can be fatal, although people have survived amounts as high as 400 ml USfloz us.According to Human Toxicology, which gives a smaller lethal range of 30 - 240 ml USfloz us, the wide difference in toxic amounts is likely because "the contamination of the consumed liquid with ethanol or later ethanol consumption, as ethanol has a protective effect". It also cites the "notoriously poor histories reported in some of these cases and the differing folate status of patients".Jacobsen D. Alcohols and glycols 1996 Human Toxicology 623–648 Elsevier 10.1016/b978-044481557-6/50026-5 978-0-444-81557-6 McMartin K.E. Symptoms occur as soon as a half hour after ingestion, and include nausea and vomiting (gastric distress) along with confusion and drowsiness (central nervous system depression). People can also fall into a coma and enter respiratory arrest. As long as 72 hours after exposure, people's vision can be negatively affected; humans break down methanol into formate metabolites, which destroy cells in the optic nerve and can leave people blind. Common methanol antidotes include fomepizole and ethanol, but fomepizole was not approved for use in Russia, and ethanol is difficult to administer. According to government statistics, over a thousand Russian citizens were affected by methanol poisoning each year.Gil Artyom Savchuk Sergey Appolonova Svetlana Allenov Andrey Khalfin Ruslan 2021-04-20 Availability of non-beverage alcohols in Russia in 2015-2020: Were control policies implemented since 2005 effective? http://www.deboni.he.com.br/jlpphs/jornal/2021_01/02_Artyom_pgs_08_34.pdf Journal of Law, Public Policies, and Human Sciences 2 2 08–34 10.52571/JLPPHS.v02.n02.pgi.08.2021 Incident The bath oil involved in the December 2016 mass poisoning was made with methanol instead of the usual ethanol. It was placed into bottles that had the bath oil's typical ethanol-bearing labels. The methanol was acquired from an employee of a local windshield washer fluid firm, who stole and sold the substance without the knowledge of the company's head.https://www.interfax.ru/russia/597863 Суд ограничился штрафом поставщику метанола для погубившего 76 иркутян "Боярышника" The court limited itself to a fine for the methanol supplier of the "Hawthorn" that killed 76 people in Irkutsk 31 January 2018 Interfax 2024-08-16 ruThe company head had acquired the methanol illegally and made the windshield fluid with it in place of the legally required isopropanol. Windshield washer fluid was also a common surrogate alcohol in Russia, often being the cheapest option as well as the most dangerous. right Poisoning survivors in intensive care (via TASS) The hospital where poisoned individuals were taken (via TASS) Additional images of the hospital (via RIA Novosti) Methanol-poisoned individuals began arriving at hospitals on 17 December, and local press reports emerged late on 18 December with the news that eight people had died and another nine were hospitalized.2016-12-19 Отравление «Боярышником»: хронология "Hawthorn" poisoning: a timeline https://www.irk.ru/news/articles/20161219/poisoning/ 2024-08-16 Irk.ru Irkutsk Online ru2016-12-24 Отравление метанолом в Иркутске: главное за неделю Methanol poisoning in Irkutsk: key events of the week https://www.irk.ru/news/articles/20161224/poisoning/ 2024-08-16 Irk.ru Irkutsk Online ru By the end of the next day, a total of 57 people had been hospitalized and 49 were dead.https://www.apnews.com/c0c419587e7d44ec8a6c6ac2685b8f2a/Alcohol-poisoning-death-toll-in-Russian-city-rises-to-48 Alcohol poisoning death toll in Russian city rises to 49 Isachenkov Vladimir 2016-12-19 Associated Press 2016-12-19 20 December 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20161220183656/https://www.apnews.com/c0c419587e7d44ec8a6c6ac2685b8f2a/Alcohol-poisoning-death-toll-in-Russian-city-rises-to-48 live Because numerous residents had been overcome by poisoning symptoms before being able to call for help, Irkutsk authorities searched for victims at their homes and near locations frequented by homeless people. The authorities delivered the bodies straight to a morgue. Hospitalizations and deaths continued after the initial surge. On 20 December, the Irkutsk health ministry reported that deaths had risen to 52 with another 29 hospitalized.2016-12-20 Death toll in Siberian mass alcohol poisoning case rises to 52 https://www.reuters.com/article/world/death-toll-in-siberian-mass-alcohol-poisoning-case-rises-to-52-idUSKBN1490S8/ 2024-08-18 Reuters Those numbers rose to 62 dead plus 40 hospitalized on 21 December;Reevell Patrick 2016-12-21 62 Die in Siberia After Drinking Counterfeit Bath Oil https://abcnews.go.com/International/62-die-siberia-drinking-counterfeit-bath-oil/story?id=44324727 2024-08-18 ABC News 74 plus 30 on 23 December;2016-12-23 Death Toll From Alcohol Poisoning Rises To 74 In Irkutsk https://www.rferl.org/a/siberia-alcohol-poisoning-death-toll-rises-71/28190666.html 2024-08-18 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 77 plus 16 on 27 December,Hobson Peter 2016-12-27 Roche Andrew Russia opens criminal case into official after 77 die of alcohol poisoning https://www.reuters.com/article/world/russia-opens-criminal-case-into-official-after-77-die-of-alcohol-poisoning-idUSKBN14G103/ live https://web.archive.org/web/20170719013000/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-alcohol-poisoning-idUKKBN14G119 2017-07-19 2016-12-27 Reuters and finally 78 dead on 9 January. Some people survived because they had been drinking other ethanol-based alcohol at the same time as the methanol-laced product, and the former helped counteract the latter. A total of 123 people were hospitalized, more than half of whom died. The total number of deaths has been reported as 74, 76, and 78. An Irkutsk medical investigation gives the lowest figure, reasoning that four deaths previously attributed to methanol were caused by drinking too much unadulterated ethanol-based bath oil. Other scientific and media articles have supported death tolls of 76 or 78 people.death toll The incident was the deadliest mass methanol poisoning in Russia's post-Soviet history. "Poisonings caused by cheap surrogate alcohol are a regular occurrence," a reporter for the Associated Press news agency wrote, "but the Irkutsk case was unprecedented in its scale." Most of those affected were residents of the ru-Latn Novo-Lenino no neighborhood in Irkutsk. They included teachers, nurses, and drivers; The New York Times described the majority as holding "steady if low-paying jobs". The Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda profiled a 34-year-old mother who bought the bath oil to share over a Saturday night dinner with her husband. He died the next day, while the two shots consumed by his wife kept her in a hospital until she died on Tuesday.Sinkov Andrey 2016-12-22 Отец погибшей от суррогата иркутянки: «Моя дочь не была алкоголичкой, она стала жертвой преступников» Father of Irkutsk woman who died from surrogate alcohol: "My daughter was not an alcoholic; she became a victim of criminals" https://www.irk.kp.ru/daily/26623.4/3640668/ Komsomolskaya Pravda ru 17 February 2025 According to state-owned media, Irkutsk's government gave 13,325 rubles to families of the dead to pay for funerals (about US$13325 RUS 2016 -1 in 2016).2016-12-23 Семьи погибших от «Боярышника» получат компенсации от иркутских властей The families of those who died from "Hawthorn" will receive compensation from the Irkutsk authorities https://irk.aif.ru/society/semi_pogibshih_ot_boyaryshnika_poluchat_kompensacii_ot_irkutskih_vlastey 2024-08-16 Argumenty i Fakty ru Aftermath Irkutsk's mayor Dmitry Berdnikov declared a state of emergency on 19 December.2016-12-19 Dozens Dead In Siberia After Drinking Body Lotion; Seven Arrested https://www.rferl.org/a/siberia-alcohol-poisoning-body-lotion/28184206.html 2024-08-15 Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty By the next day, the Russian government said that it had seized about 2000 L gal us of illegal alcohol, uncovered a bath oil production facility, and removed 500 L gal us of remaining bath oil from the shelves of around 100 retailers in the Irkutsk area.Продавцы убившего 26 человек в Иркутске "Боярышника" задержаны The sellers of the "Hawthorn" that killed 26 people in Irkutsk have been detained https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-38363926 2016-12-20 2024-08-15 BBC News Russian ru On the 23rd, the state-owned TASS news agency reported that Russian police had seized over 10,000 small bath oil bottles.2016-12-22 Some 10,000 bottles of poisonous bath lotion seized in Siberia's Irkutsk https://tass.com/society/921612 2024-08-13 TASS In the days after the poisoning, Russian authorities opened a criminal case and detained 23 people. They included local vendors who sold the product, police officers, and a senior regional government official for the greater Siberian region.https://themoscowtimes.com/news/suspected-surrogate-alcohol-supplier-arrested-in-irkutsk-56627 Suspected Surrogate Alcohol Supplier Arrested in Irkutsk The Moscow Times 2016-12-23 2017-03-05 15 July 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180715055329/https://themoscowtimes.com/news/suspected-surrogate-alcohol-supplier-arrested-in-irkutsk-56627 live A further five people were arrested in January 2017 and charged with selling and publicizing surrogate alcohol.https://themoscowtimes.com/news/counterfeit-alcohol-makers-arrested-in-siberia-56986 Counterfeit Alcohol Producers Arrested in Siberia The Moscow Times 2017-01-31 2017-03-05 4 October 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20231004130248/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2017/01/31/counterfeit-alcohol-makers-arrested-in-siberia-a56986 live In February 2020, the last of 19 individuals jailed or fined for distributing the product was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.2020-02-28 Supplier Of Deadly Bath Lotion In Siberia Jailed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty https://www.rferl.org/a/supplier-of-deadly-bath-lotion-in-siberia-jailed/30460396.html 2023-03-09 9 March 2023 https://web.archive.org/web/20230309045814/https://www.rferl.org/a/supplier-of-deadly-bath-lotion-in-siberia-jailed/30460396.html live After the incident, a spokesperson for Russian president Vladimir Putin called it a "terrible tragedy". They blamed it on a failing of "supervisory bodies". Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev called for a ban on non-traditional alcoholic liquids like bath oils, saying "it's an outrage, and we need to put an end to this". Chairman of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko publicly supported additional regulations on alcohol-containing liquids, and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Khloponin proposed accomplishing something similar by requiring pharmaceutical prescriptions.https://themoscowtimes.com/news/alcohol-based-medicines-to-need-prescriptions-after-siberian-poisoning-tragedy-56619 Alcohol-Based Medicines to Need Prescriptions After Siberian Poisoning Tragedy The Moscow Times 2016-12-22 2017-03-05 22 December 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20161222142444/https://themoscowtimes.com/news/alcohol-based-medicines-to-need-prescriptions-after-siberian-poisoning-tragedy-56619 live Alexei Navalny, an opposition politician, alleged that "ru-Latn Boyaryshnik no is killing more people than terrorist acts did in the whole history of Russia" each year. Putin announced on 22 December that he supported increasing regulations on products with more than 25 percent alcohol, increasing punishments for anyone who broke alcohol manufacturing and distribution laws,https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/21/vladimir-putin-clampdown-surrogate-alcohol-deaths-fake-bath-tincture-irkutsk Vladimir Putin orders clampdown on 'surrogate' alcohol as deaths rise Walker Shaun The Guardian 2016-12-21 2016-12-21 10 October 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20221010125441/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/21/vladimir-putin-clampdown-surrogate-alcohol-deaths-fake-bath-tincture-irkutsk live and expanding the alcohol excise tax to alcohol-containing products in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics business sectors.2016-12-21 Путин: нужно повышать акцизы, а не продавать флакончики за три копейки Putin: we need to raise excise taxes, not sell bottles for three kopecks https://ria.ru/20161221/1484263530.html 2024-08-16 RIA Novosti ruSome media articles referred to this as a proposal to decrease alcohol taxes.Kottasova Ivana 2016-12-22 Putin cracks down on moonshine amid poisoning crisis https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/22/news/russia-alcohol-crackdown/index.html 2024-08-16 CNN Business 2016-12-21 Putin Plans Alcohol Tax Cuts After Siberian Poisoning Tragedy https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2016/12/21/putin-plans-alcohol-tax-cuts-after-siberian-poisoning-tragedy-a56602 2024-08-16 The Moscow Times "In practice we see what such indulgences lead to: dozens of people dying like flies", Putin said. On 26 December 2016, Rospotrebnadzor, Russia's government agency devoted to consumer protection, banned all sales of most non-food items with more than 25 percent alcohol (with exceptions for window cleaning liquids and perfume).https://themoscowtimes.com/news/sales-of-non-food-products-containing-alcohol-suspended-56643 Russia Suspends Sale of Non-Food Products Containing Alcohol The Moscow Times 2016-12-26 2017-03-05 11 July 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180711234836/https://themoscowtimes.com/news/sales-of-non-food-products-containing-alcohol-suspended-56643 livehttps://themoscowtimes.com/news/russia-extends-alcohol-product-restrictions-by-2-months-56917 Russia Extends Restrictions on Sale of Alcohol Products After Mass Poisoning The Moscow Times 2017-01-25 2017-03-05 2 October 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20181002141527/https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russia-extends-alcohol-product-restrictions-by-2-months-56917 live Their order was scheduled to run for one month, but they extended it multiple times so that it was in effect nearly every day through 2018.Neufeld Maria Rehm Jürgen April 2018 Newest policy developments regarding surrogate alcohol consumption in Russia International Journal of Drug Policy 54 58–59 10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.11.013 29414486 Nevertheless, Russian companies used the exceptions and exclusions in the measure to continue selling drinkable medicinal tinctures, antiseptics, and cologne, even while they removed bath oils, some kinds of perfume, and other similar products.Gil Artyom Savchuk Sergey Appolonova Svetlana Allenov Andrey Khalfin Ruslan April 2021 Availability of non-beverage alcohols in Russia in 2015–2020: Were control policies implemented since 2005 effective? Journal of Law, Public Policies, and Human Sciences 2 2 08–34 10.52571/JLPPHS.v02.n02.pgi.08.2021 free In May 2017, the Russian government pegged the minimum legal price of vodka to 205 rubles per half liter (equivalent to US$3.06 for about one pint in 2016). That was lower than a previously announced price increase to 219, but it was still about 2.4 times the minimum price of vodka in 2011 and 15 rubles more than the price of vodka at the time of the Irkutsk poisoning.Effectiveness of policy changes to reduce harm from unrecorded alcohol in Russia between 2005 and now International Journal of Drug Policy Maria Neufeld Jürgen Rehm January 2018 51 Appendix A/Web supplementary data 10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.09.006 29031132 Two months later, they strengthened legal punishments for illegally producing and selling alcohol, banned the kind of alcoholic vending machines through which the Irkutsk bath oil was sold, and prohibited online advertisements from alcoholic retailers. In December 2018, the government passed a new law that ended the ability of retailers to sell non-food items with an ethanol content of 28% or above at a price below that of the legal minimum for vodka and other liquors. The intended effect was to put an end to the ability of cheap surrogate alcohol to economically compete with their regulated alternatives.Neufeld Maria Bobrova Anastacia Davletov Kairat Štelemėkas Mindaugas Stoppel Relika Ferreira-Borges Carina Breda João Rehm Jürgen March 2021 Alcohol control policies in Former Soviet Union countries: A narrative review of three decades of policy changes and their apparent effects Drug and Alcohol Review 40 3 350–367 10.1111/dar.13204 0959-5236 7936953 33155370 According to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), a minimum of 2,601 people died in Russia as a result of methanol poisoning between 2015 and 2025.McClure Tess Rogero Tiago Christou William 2025-11-29 Brain damage, blindness and death: the global trail of trauma left by methanol-laced alcohol https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/nov/29/tainted-alcohol-methanol-poisoning 2026-02-25 The Guardian en-GB 0261-3077 Within those, mass methanol poisonings caused by counterfeit alcohol happened again in Russia in late 2020 (7 deaths in the Sakha Republic),2020-11-23 7 Die From Drinking Hand Sanitizer at Party in Russia https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2020/11/23/7-die-from-drinking-hand-sanitizer-at-dinner-party-in-russia-a72119 2026-02-25 The Moscow Times en late 2021 (34 deaths in Orenburg Oblast),https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/death-toll-russian-alcohol-poisoning-incident-rises-34-2021-10-10/ Death toll from Russian alcohol poisoning incident rises to 34 Reuters October 10, 2021 2026-02-242021-10-08 Alcohol Poisoning Kills 17 Russians https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2021/10/08/alcohol-poisoning-kills-17-russians-a75244 2026-02-25 The Moscow Times en mid-2023 (16+ deaths in Ulyanovsk Oblast),https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/poisoned-cider-kills-eight-russia-dozens-sick-2023-06-05/ Adulterated cider kills 16 in Russia, dozens sick Reuters June 5, 2023 2026-02-24 and late 2025 (41 deaths in Leningrad Oblast).2025-10-03 Death Toll in Leningrad Region Bootleg Alcohol Poisoning Rises to 41 https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2025/10/03/death-toll-in-leningrad-region-bootleg-alcohol-poisoning-rises-to-41-a90711 2026-02-24 The Moscow Times en See also List of methanol poisoning incidents Notes References Further reading Kazun Anastasia Kazun Anton Summer 2019 How State-Controlled Media Can Set the Agenda on the Internet: Coverage of Three Tragedies on Different Types of Russian Media https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/280/article/729528/summary Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization 27 3 371–398 1940-4603 Lachenmeier Dirk W. Neufeld Maria Rehm Jürgen January 2021 The Impact of Unrecorded Alcohol Use on Health: What Do We Know in 2020? https://www.jsad.com/doi/10.15288/jsad.2021.82.28 Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs 82 1 28–41 10.15288/jsad.2021.82.28 33573720 231901412 subscription Category:2016 disasters in Russia Category:2016 health disasters Category:2016 scandals Category:Alcohol in Russia Category:December 2016 in Russia Category:Health disasters in Russia Mass methanol poisoning Category:Methanol poisoning incidents Category:Disasters in Irkutsk Oblast Category:2010s in Siberia