EDITORIAL: Drunken Russian Killers

EDITORIAL

Drunken Russian Killers

When a TU-134 jet went down in Petrozavodsk, Russia on June 20th this year, some people (the Russian government included) wanted to blame the aging plane itself.  Now, they own the poor plane an apology.

The 47 Russians who lost their lives on that flight were not killed by the plane, nor were they killed by any “evil” Chechen terrorist. They were killed by a fellow Russian, the navigator of the plane Aman Atayev.  He was drunk at the wheel.

So even if the passengers had been flying in a brand new Boeing aircraft made in America with the latest technology, they still would not have been safe.   Atayev’s mother says he turned to drinking as a result of his recent divorce, yet another omnipresent Russian social ill.  She says so as if he were somehow the innocent victim of that divorce, but in fact one Russian man murders his wife every forty minutes, so it’s quite likely he brutalized his wife emotionally or physically or both, and that’s why she left him.

Russia’s Drinking Problem

Dima Medvedev has suddenly started blabbing about illegal narcotics. Mark Lawrence Schrad, an assistant professor of political science at Villanova University and the author of The Political Power of Bad Ideas: Networks, Institutions and the Global Prohibition Wave, writing in the New York Times, explains why:

IN an effort to reduce both its sky-high alcoholism rate and its budget gap, Russia recently announced plans to quadruple the tax on the country’s eternal vice, vodka, over the next three years.

But while the move might be well intentioned, the long history of liquor taxation in Russia exposes a critical obstacle in the path of any anti-drinking campaign: the Kremlin’s own addiction to liquor revenues, which has derailed every previous effort to wean Russians from their tipple.

EDITORIAL: Russia, Nation of Drunken Murderers

EDITORIAL

Russia, Nation of Drunken Murderers

Last week on the Sea of Azov (Russian-language source), six young campers drowned after being allowed to swim in a prohibited area and being sucked under by dangerous riptides, while three drunken teachers were supposed to be supervising scratched themselves like apes on the beach.  Three other children were hospitalized, one in critical condition.

It is no stereotype, no prejudice, just simple undeniable fact:  Russia is a land of drunken murderers.  Russians pay no more attention to the election of their leaders than they do to the care of their children; instead, they pay attention to the best way of laying hands on vodka.

EDITORIAL: Alcoholic Russia

EDITORIAL

Alcoholic Russia

What girl doesn't love a Russian man loaded down with vodka?

As with most things where Russia, one of the most dishonest and dissembling nations on the face of the Earth, is concerned, it’s hard to get reliable information about the extent of the country’s epidemic of alcoholism.

But here’s a truly staggering factoid:  Even though 70% of Russia’s alcohol consumption comes in the form of vodka, Russians drink so much that their 30% residual consumption is still enough to make Russia the third-largest beer market on the planet.

Dig a little deeper, and you unearth facts that are truly breathtaking both in their implications and their contradictions.

The average Russian adult drinks 50 bottles of Vodka a Year!

Do you dare imagine how many are consumed by an “above average” Russian adult?  Voice of America reports:

New studies find that about a million people in Russia die each year from alcohol and tobacco related illnesses. And in several recent years, more than half of all Russian deaths between the ages of 15 and 54 were caused by alcohol.

In Russia, deaths outnumber births these days.

EDITORIAL: Putin the Puritan

EDITORIAL

Putin the Puritan

Perhaps for the first time since Vladimir Putin took power, the people of Russia last week got a crystal clear image of what their lives would be like a decade from now if Putin is allowed to become “president for life” like Sadaam Hussein of Iraq.  It is not a pretty picture.

At one stroke, just as if he were Stalin, Putin shut down every formerly legal gambling casino in the country and threw hundreds of thousands of Russian workers onto the unemployment lines.  Just as many contended Russia could “never go back” to a Soviet style of living, many believed Putin would never carry through on his Puritan threat to close the casinos, at least not while unemployment was in double digits and the economy was foundering badly. 

But he has done it.  And that’s not all he has done.

Putin’s Russia brings us “Menocide”

Paul Goble reports that Vladimir Putin is wiping out Russia’s male population far more effectively than Adolf Hitler ever dreamed of doing:

Extremely high mortality rates among Russian men in prime child-bearing ages, far larger than those in other developed countries and largely the result of alcohol consumption and drug abuse, are undercutting not only Moscow’s efforts to solve the country’s demographic problems by pro-natalist policies but its hopes to modernize the Russian economy.

Drunken Russia

Reuters reports that the classic stereotype of Russia being a nation of reckless drunkerds is, well, quite simply true. Maybe instead of attacking as “racist” anyone who dares to point out basic demographic facts, so-called “russophiles” ought to be working to change the status quo and save lives:

Cheap and illicit alcohol kills more than half Russian men and women in their most productive years and the government must act urgently to reverse the trend, a study to be published in The Lancet at the weekend said.

Drinking in Russia

Alexander Nazaryan, a Russian expat English teacher in Brooklyn who has written for the Village Voice, New Criterion and other publications, and is working on his first novel, “Golden Youth,” about Russian organized crime in Brooklyn, had the following op-ed in the New York Times last week (click through to read a number of comments the piece attracted). In it he observes:  “But perhaps because our foods are less sensuous or readily appealing than Mediterranean cuisine ― sour cream is not so sexy, it turns out ― only the [vodka] bottle lingers in the imagination.”  He might not have limited the comparison to Mediterranean cuisine, since Russian food suffers by comparison to virtually any other cuisine you can name. It’s an observation we made long ago, that Russian cuisine is a perfect microcosm of Russia itself, gross and unreformed, because the people of Russia simply can’t be bothered.

There are few bars in my native city of St. Petersburg, and none at all, as far as I can tell, in Brighton Beach, the Russian enclave of Brooklyn to which I return whenever the memory of stuffed cabbage dumplings and accordion music begins to beckon. Not that sobriety has too much traction in either: when I returned to St. Petersburg in 2003 for the first time in 20 years, it was much more common to find open beers in the morning crowd than cups of coffee. And in the extravagant cabarets of Brighton Beach ― those gilded mafiya haunts now frequented by well-heeled families from Montclair and Stamford ― each dinner table is marked by an endless cavalcade of Smirnoff and Courvoisier.

Annals of Russian Alcoholism

The Globe & Mail reports:

Katya Orlova’s favourite drinks were the canned gin-and-tonics sold by vendors on nearly every street in Moscow. She downed as many as 10 a day. Dasha Vodneva mixed her cocktails with vodka. Years of heavy drinking landed both in a Moscow rehab centre.

Katya is 13; Dasha just 12. They’re patients at Kvartal, Russia’s only treatment centre for teenage addicts. The girls don’t miss drinking now, but both are leaving soon and neither has a plan for staying sober.

“I want to stop drinking,” said Dasha, whose solemn face is framed by long, wavy brown hair. “Here, they explained to me [that] drinking is harmful to my health. Maybe I will stop. I’m not sure.”

Katya shrugged when asked why she drank. “I don’t know – because I wanted to forget my problems with my mom.” Then, as if the questions were boring her, the raven-haired tomboy resumed doing handstands against a wall.

Another patient, Sabina Pasechnik, 15, said she’ll likely resume drinking when she leaves Kvartal. The pressure in some Moscow teenage circles is too great. “It’s considered normal behaviour,” said Sabina, whose own mother is an alcohol counsellor.

“I don’t know how it will be possible to live without it. But at the same time, I want to stop.”

Russia has always been a hard-drinking nation. Its history and literature are rife with folklore that tends to romanticize the Russian fondness for vodka. In recent years, those habits have been passed on to a younger generation of drinkers.

Alcohol addiction among teenagers and children has soared since the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to Russian Ministry of Health statistics, the number of children under 18 who are addicted to alcohol has risen from about 6,300 in the early 1990s to nearly 20,000 in 2007. Each year, the numbers creep higher.

Moscow parks, subway stations and plazas are common watering holes for young Muscovites. At Kaluzhskaya plaza in central Moscow, hundreds of youths and teens gather around a large Lenin statue every Thursday night, even during the coldest winter evenings, and drink until early morning.

Experts say rampant poverty and the social upheaval in the 1990s helped spur the spike in alcoholism rates among the young.

“They’re from impoverished families or they have dropped out of school or their parents are hard drinkers, too,” said Veronika Gotlib, the director of Kvartal, which opened five years ago. It treats about 300 patients a year, just a fraction of the thousands of addicted teens. Most are between the ages of 12 and 16, but patients have been as young as 7.

Although Russia’s legal drinking age is 18, children say it’s easy to buy alcohol from street vendors. Twelve-year-old Dasha persuaded older friends to buy her cocktails; others made the purchases themselves.

Ms. Gotlib said many of the children are brought to the centre by exasperated parents; others after run-ins with police.

“Some of the stories are like from a Stephen King novel, just heartbreaking horror stories,” Ms. Gotlib said. But there are plenty of kids from average families too.

Kvartal is funded mainly by the Moscow city government but also gets money for programs from international aid agencies such as Unicef and the Canadian International Development Agency. Like many Western addiction treatment centres, it uses group and individual therapy combined with classes in art and drama.

Most of the children thrive at Kvartal, Ms. Gotlib said. But the same problems re-emerge once they leave. More than half go back to their old ways, she said. This is where Russia’s weak social-service system lags behind those of other countries.

Staff try to keep in touch with families of former patients, but many children are returning home to drinking environments.

“There isn’t enough support,” she said. We try to work with families and parents. But some of the parents don’t feel responsible. They ask us to fix their kids.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that child addiction rates are rising in Russia. The statistics mirror adult consumption rates, which have also soared since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today, the average annual consumption for an adult is slightly more than 15 litres a year, almost double the rate from a decade ago and far higher than European and North American consumption rates.

Children from heavy-drinking families have few resources to dissuade them from following their parents’ paths.

“In my opinion, they have a lot of free time and they are not engaged in any activities,” Ms. Gotlib said. “If you don’t find love at home, you go into the street. And there in the street they meet other kids and they begin drinking in groups.”

Dasha started drinking at 10, she said, mainly to escape the crowded two-bedroom apartment where she lived with her father, stepmother and four other relatives. She left her mother’s home in Omsk in Siberia because her stepfather beat her. But in Moscow, her father was just as abusive. At first, the sugary cocktails made her nauseous and dizzy, but she liked the warmth it brought her. School authorities sent her to Kvartal last fall after she was found smoking in the bathroom.

Dasha has been living at Kvartal ever since. She likes the calm atmosphere, the structure and even the counselling. “It’s a good break from my house.”

But the girls interviewed were leery about what’s in store for them once they leave.

Dasha Beskova, 14, said she wants to drink in moderation, just on holidays and at birthday parties. Sabina said she doesn’t know how to live without drinking.

“That was part of life, to drink. Now, if I go to a restaurant, of course I would want to drink. I liked being drunk.”

Thirsty nations

Annual alcohol consumption, litres per person:

15 Russia

11.2 Britain

9.8 Australia

8.4 United States

7.6 Japan

1.5 Turkey

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Russia Leads the World . . . In Alcohol Mortality

Paul Goble reports:

Moscow officials were quick to grasp at a recent report that suggested Russians were not consuming as put alcohol per capita as many European countries, but a new examination of the data shows that the amount and kinds of alcohol Russians consume and the way they consume it means that they have the highest rate of alcohol-related deaths in the world. In advance of the release of an international investigation of alcohol consumption in the Russian Federation, Dar’ya Khalturina, a senior Moscow specialist on alcohol consumption, told Gazeta that high levels of alcohol consumption and binge drinking among Russians entail tragic consequences for that society.

The notion, frequently put about by Russian officials and journalists, that foreign experts are “intentionally” trying to make the situation in Russia look worse is something “to put it mildly that does not correspond to reality, Khalturina said. Russians consume an enormous amount of alcohol, and they do so in ways that maximize its negative consequences. According to the Russian government, Russian adults consume 10 liters of pure alcohol from all sources a year, but in fact, they consume at least 15 liters with men consuming far more than women. The first figure puts Russia in the top 50 of all countries, but the second puts it in the top five and possibly higher still, the Moscow scholar said. These figures alone go a long way to explaining the fact that alcohol was directly responsible for 25,000 premature deaths last year (down from 38,000 in 2004) and indirectly responsible for many others. Even the first figure means that Russia has the highest mortality rate from alcohol in the world.

But the impact of the amount Russians consume is exacerbated by the way they consume it. Russians tend to drink to get drunk, a pattern that not only boosts deaths from a wide variety of illness but increases accidents and crime while significantly cutting the birthrate – all matters of a concern in a country now obsessed with its demographic decline. Just how large an impact cutting alcohol consumption can have, Khalturina said, can be seen in an examination of Mikhail Gorbachev’s hated anti-alcohol campaign. That effort increased life expectancy among Russian men by five years to the highest point in history. And it led to an immediate upsurge in the birthrate, the echo of which Russians are seeing today. Unfortunately, she continued, “politically this campaign did not succeed.” It was imposed too quickly and too brutally, something that guaranteed that it would not last. And “even know sociologists do not know what would have been the situation in the country if the anti-alcohol campaign had lasted not three years [as it did] but for example eight years.” In fact, she said, “it is possible that if the leadership of the country had carried out this program to its logical conclusion, we would not have an entirely different society.” Thus, “the lesson of the Gorbachev reform is that it is necessary to reduce the consumption of alcoholic drinks in Russia, but it must be done more smoothly and with not so radical methods.

The government must adopt new policies, she argued, because it cannot count on rising incomes to solve the problem as many now think. Alcohol consumption is linked not so much to incomes as to education: Those whose incomes rise will consume more or better quality alcohol; only those with more education will drink less. Among the measures Khalturina recommends for consideration are: higher taxes on alcoholic drinks so that a bottle of vodka will cost eight to ten times that of less strong drinks. Vodka should be something, she says “which a man can permit himself to consume but not every day.” Moreover, the government should restrict the sale of alcohol at night, increase the struggle against the production and sale of illegal alcohol, combat the sale of alcohol to minors (Only one of every eight who tries to buy alcohol is refused, she said.), and launch a propaganda effort against drinking in general and binge drinking in particular. And Khalturina continued, the government should explore cutting the amount of alcohol in medications, introducing a state monopoly on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages and improving the cure rate for alcoholics, given that one in ten of adult Russian men can now be classified as a victim of that disease.

Given the impact of alcohol on Russia’s demographic situation, the Moscow expert said, all these and others as well should be considered and tried out. Unfortunately, she continued, in Russia today, as a result of changes in the 1990s, the alcohol lobby is “very strong” while the anti-alcohol movement remains relatively weak. Nonetheless, the facts are on its side, something Russia’s rulers must recognize is they are to find a way out of the demographic dead end their country is now in.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of Russian "Feminism"

Reuters reports:

Igor Volodin believes vodka is no more harmful than chocolate. He is proud to be the first Russian to produce the spirit in a special women’s version, designed to be sipped with salad after a workout in the gym.

Touted as a glamour product for upwardly mobile women in booming Russia, Damskaya or “Ladies” vodka worries doctors, who fear a fresh wave of female alcoholics in a country already suffering one of the world’s worst drink problems.

The Moscow Serbsky Institute for Social and Forensic Psychiatry says Russia has 2.5 million registered alcoholics, but adds the real figure is seven times higher — more than 10 percent of Russia’s population of 142 million. Yuri Sorokin, a psychologist running a Moscow rehabilitation centre for drug addicts and alcoholics, said 60 percent of those he treats for alcoholism are women, including the wives of Russian millionaires. “I believe that female alcoholism is a huge problem in Russia. I believe it is as huge and hidden as the underwater part of an iceberg,” he said.

Adverts for the new “Ladies” vodka show the elegant, violet-tinted bottle wearing a pleated white skirt which is blown upwards to reveal the label. The images confront commuters on Moscow’s metro, grab the eye on the street and leap from the pages of women’s magazines. “Between us, girls …” runs the slogan on the adverts, which tout the product as an ideal tipple for hearty hen parties. “Women need a drink of their own,” said Volodin, sitting next to an array of his “Ladies” vodkas, which comes in lime, vanilla and almond flavors, or just straight for cocktails. “In Moscow, there are pink taxis for ladies, there are light cigarettes,” he said. “But there was no vodka, and we asked ourselves: ‘Why?’ … More people suffer from diabetes in Russia than from alcoholism, but no one bans chocolate advertisements.”

Sales on Russia’s vodka market are estimated to be worth around $15 billion a year, with a total annual volume of some 2.2 billion liters, Volodin said. Annual market growth in value is seen at 15 percent, he said, thanks to rising incomes and higher sales of premium vodkas like “Ladies”.

Volodin heads the Deyros company, which has been selling strong spirits on the Russian market for more than 10 years. “Ladies”, launched in December, is produced at a distillery in Russia’s second city of St Petersburg and retails at around 300 roubles ($12.5) in upmarket shops in big cities. Volodin is targeting successful, well-educated, married women with money. “Of course, $12 per bottle is too expensive for a village woman,” Volodin said, forecasting March sales of “Ladies” at 115,000 bottles and putting the 2008 full-year figure at over 2 million. “But we can’t make bad vodka for women.” Volodin says his vodka is pure and free of by-products, like fusel oils, which can cause a heavy hangover. He says because of its mellow taste, it can be taken with salads and other light meals, even by those regularly working out in gyms.

Russia, buoyed by windfall revenues for oil, gas and metals exports, has enjoyed its biggest economic boom in a generation. Wages in the cash-laden economy have rocketed. But high salaries and growing consumption of expensive alcohol have not led to moderation in drinking, said psychologist Sorokin. The joblessness and despair of Russia’s wild capitalism of the 1990s have now been replaced by the psychological vacuum of the newly-rich, he said.

Olga, a woman in her 20s, was buying a bottle of “Ladies” in an expensive supermarket in Moscow for a party with her friends. “I saw the ad in the metro and decided to taste it,” she said. “I just loved the design.” Sorokin said he expected an influx of new patients in about six months. “When such strong marketing experts are involved, I will never be jobless,” he sighed.

Vladimir Putin is certainly correct to express outrage that any in the West would dare to think of Russia as being “a little bit savage.” The Times of London has more on the feminism front in enlightened, sophisticated Russia:

Blondes famously have more fun, but a jealous world has long joked about their intellectual limitations. Now blondes in Russia are fighting the bimbo image by forming their own political party. Organisers insist that the Party of Blondes will establish itself as Russia’s newest political force by recruiting 50,000 members within weeks. The blonde ambition, they say, is to challenge Dmitri Medvedev for the presidency of Russia at the next election in 2012. “The Party of Blondes is for blondes, those who love blondes, and those who are blonde inside,” general-secretary Marina Voloshinova told The Times. Confusingly, she is a brunette.

“I dyed my hair blonde once but it was so awful that I decided never to do it again. I just have to stay blonde inside,” she said. “Blonde is not just a hair colour, it’s in your brain and your heart. Blondes accept life in a more lively way, they really have more fun.”

The idea started as an internet community, the Club of Blonde Lovers, that evolved from a forum for jokes into a discussion about the many problems facing Russian women. “We decided to make it more serious and to form a political party. Blondes are very attractive and the Party of Blondes is a way to gain attention for issues facing all women,” said Ms Voloshinova, a 39-year-old economist. “We want to make it easier for women to start small businesses because that is where they can develop themselves, and children’s education is a major question. It is free on paper but everybody knows that you have to pay under the table to get your child into a good school.” She added: “We will try to have beautiful blondes as party representatives. Unfortunately, a lot of our beauties have left Russia and we have to work hard to make life more convenient for women so that they will stay and be beautiful here. Men will vote for a beautiful woman, but we have to convince them that she is not only beautiful but also clever and a good leader.”

The party launched three weeks ago and claims 5,000 members. It needs 50,000 plus branches in half of Russia’s regions to gain official registration. “We will be ready by May 31, which is the Day of Blondes,” Ms Voloshinova said. The party is seeking support from famous blonde Russians, such as Valentina Matviyenko, the governor of St Pertersburg, Maria Sharapova, the tennis star, and Ksenia Sobchak, the “It” girl. “They don’t have to become members, just sympathise with our ideas. To be a real political force we need to develop our own leaders, and there are a lot of talented women in the regions.” Non-blondes, including men, are also welcome. Indeed, the current leader of the nascent women’s party is a man, Sergei Kushnerov. “He founded the Blonder Lovers’ Club so he became our leader, but that may change when we are more organised. Anyway, he has dyed his hair blond,” said Ms Voloshinova. She insists that the Party of Blondes is not a joke and that it is serious about capturing the Kremlin in a country where ultra-nationalists and Communists ran in this month’s presidential election. Mr Medvedev may even have a fifth columnist in his camp – his wife Svetlana is blonde. “No other party in Russia represents women’s rights. We want to teach women to love themselves and to believe that they can be all that they want to be,” she said.

“We will have a blonde president and if we find a great woman leader who is not blonde, we will make her dye her hair. To become the President of Russia, every woman is willing to dye her hair.”

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of Russian Self-Destruction: In "Wealthy" Putin’s Russia, They’re still Reduced to Drinking Aftershave

MSNBC reports:

Drinking alcohol not meant for consumption such as cologne and antiseptics may be responsible for nearly half of all deaths among working-age men in Russia, according to a study published Friday in The Lancet. “It’s an astounding finding,” said Sir Richard Peto, a professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at Oxford University who was not connected to the study. While the scientists limited their research to the Russian city of Izhevsk, experts suspect the community is probably not atypical. “Evidence is emerging from other areas to suggest this is a nationwide problem,” Peto said.

The research suggests that despite Russia’s economic resurgence in the past decade, it still faces staggering social and health problems, especially in provincial areas far from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Dr. David Leon of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues looked at all the deaths of men aged 25-54 in Izhevsk, a city in the Urals, from 2003 to 2005. They also interviewed the men’s close relatives to determine contributing factors, such as their health status, drinking habits and socio-economic class. Leon and his colleagues concluded that 43 percent of those deaths were caused by hazardous drinking.

‘Surrogate’ alcohols

Price and accessibility are major factors in the popularity of drinking cologne and other so-called “surrogate” alcohols. They cost a fraction of what vodka costs, and are available in the ubiquitous kiosks and pharmacies on Russian streets. The products also typically contain as much as 97 percent ethanol — compared with the 43 percent in Russian vodka.

Smoking and lower levels of education were both associated with markers of problem drinking. But whether men drank hazardous alcohol was the most potent predictor of mortality, said Leon. Men who did so had an approximately six-fold increase in death compared with men who did not.

Alcoholism has long been thought to be linked to mortality in Russia. Death rates dropped sharply in the mid-1980s when former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced anti-alcoholism campaigns. And in a society that has a word for continual drunkenness lasting more than two days — zapoi — experts say the findings underline Russia’s problem with alcohol.

To address the problem, experts recommend higher taxes for alcohol and stricter regulation of how ethanol is used in products not meant for consumption. Though Russia has taken steps to limit the use of alcohol in colognes, they have not addressed the use of ethanol in medicines. Combating rampant alcoholism in Russia also will require a sea change in social mores that will undoubtedly take years, experts say. “Banning surrogate alcohols doesn’t mean you’re suddenly going to get a population who are upright and sober,” Leon said. “But what you’ll get is a population that takes longer to kill themselves.”

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of Russian Self-Destruction: In "Wealthy" Putin’s Russia, They’re still Reduced to Drinking Aftershave

MSNBC reports:

Drinking alcohol not meant for consumption such as cologne and antiseptics may be responsible for nearly half of all deaths among working-age men in Russia, according to a study published Friday in The Lancet. “It’s an astounding finding,” said Sir Richard Peto, a professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at Oxford University who was not connected to the study. While the scientists limited their research to the Russian city of Izhevsk, experts suspect the community is probably not atypical. “Evidence is emerging from other areas to suggest this is a nationwide problem,” Peto said.

The research suggests that despite Russia’s economic resurgence in the past decade, it still faces staggering social and health problems, especially in provincial areas far from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Dr. David Leon of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues looked at all the deaths of men aged 25-54 in Izhevsk, a city in the Urals, from 2003 to 2005. They also interviewed the men’s close relatives to determine contributing factors, such as their health status, drinking habits and socio-economic class. Leon and his colleagues concluded that 43 percent of those deaths were caused by hazardous drinking.

‘Surrogate’ alcohols

Price and accessibility are major factors in the popularity of drinking cologne and other so-called “surrogate” alcohols. They cost a fraction of what vodka costs, and are available in the ubiquitous kiosks and pharmacies on Russian streets. The products also typically contain as much as 97 percent ethanol — compared with the 43 percent in Russian vodka.

Smoking and lower levels of education were both associated with markers of problem drinking. But whether men drank hazardous alcohol was the most potent predictor of mortality, said Leon. Men who did so had an approximately six-fold increase in death compared with men who did not.

Alcoholism has long been thought to be linked to mortality in Russia. Death rates dropped sharply in the mid-1980s when former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced anti-alcoholism campaigns. And in a society that has a word for continual drunkenness lasting more than two days — zapoi — experts say the findings underline Russia’s problem with alcohol.

To address the problem, experts recommend higher taxes for alcohol and stricter regulation of how ethanol is used in products not meant for consumption. Though Russia has taken steps to limit the use of alcohol in colognes, they have not addressed the use of ethanol in medicines. Combating rampant alcoholism in Russia also will require a sea change in social mores that will undoubtedly take years, experts say. “Banning surrogate alcohols doesn’t mean you’re suddenly going to get a population who are upright and sober,” Leon said. “But what you’ll get is a population that takes longer to kill themselves.”

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of Russian Self-Destruction: In "Wealthy" Putin’s Russia, They’re still Reduced to Drinking Aftershave

MSNBC reports:

Drinking alcohol not meant for consumption such as cologne and antiseptics may be responsible for nearly half of all deaths among working-age men in Russia, according to a study published Friday in The Lancet. “It’s an astounding finding,” said Sir Richard Peto, a professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at Oxford University who was not connected to the study. While the scientists limited their research to the Russian city of Izhevsk, experts suspect the community is probably not atypical. “Evidence is emerging from other areas to suggest this is a nationwide problem,” Peto said.

The research suggests that despite Russia’s economic resurgence in the past decade, it still faces staggering social and health problems, especially in provincial areas far from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Dr. David Leon of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues looked at all the deaths of men aged 25-54 in Izhevsk, a city in the Urals, from 2003 to 2005. They also interviewed the men’s close relatives to determine contributing factors, such as their health status, drinking habits and socio-economic class. Leon and his colleagues concluded that 43 percent of those deaths were caused by hazardous drinking.

‘Surrogate’ alcohols

Price and accessibility are major factors in the popularity of drinking cologne and other so-called “surrogate” alcohols. They cost a fraction of what vodka costs, and are available in the ubiquitous kiosks and pharmacies on Russian streets. The products also typically contain as much as 97 percent ethanol — compared with the 43 percent in Russian vodka.

Smoking and lower levels of education were both associated with markers of problem drinking. But whether men drank hazardous alcohol was the most potent predictor of mortality, said Leon. Men who did so had an approximately six-fold increase in death compared with men who did not.

Alcoholism has long been thought to be linked to mortality in Russia. Death rates dropped sharply in the mid-1980s when former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced anti-alcoholism campaigns. And in a society that has a word for continual drunkenness lasting more than two days — zapoi — experts say the findings underline Russia’s problem with alcohol.

To address the problem, experts recommend higher taxes for alcohol and stricter regulation of how ethanol is used in products not meant for consumption. Though Russia has taken steps to limit the use of alcohol in colognes, they have not addressed the use of ethanol in medicines. Combating rampant alcoholism in Russia also will require a sea change in social mores that will undoubtedly take years, experts say. “Banning surrogate alcohols doesn’t mean you’re suddenly going to get a population who are upright and sober,” Leon said. “But what you’ll get is a population that takes longer to kill themselves.”

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of Russian Self-Destruction: In "Wealthy" Putin’s Russia, They’re still Reduced to Drinking Aftershave

MSNBC reports:

Drinking alcohol not meant for consumption such as cologne and antiseptics may be responsible for nearly half of all deaths among working-age men in Russia, according to a study published Friday in The Lancet. “It’s an astounding finding,” said Sir Richard Peto, a professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at Oxford University who was not connected to the study. While the scientists limited their research to the Russian city of Izhevsk, experts suspect the community is probably not atypical. “Evidence is emerging from other areas to suggest this is a nationwide problem,” Peto said.

The research suggests that despite Russia’s economic resurgence in the past decade, it still faces staggering social and health problems, especially in provincial areas far from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Dr. David Leon of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues looked at all the deaths of men aged 25-54 in Izhevsk, a city in the Urals, from 2003 to 2005. They also interviewed the men’s close relatives to determine contributing factors, such as their health status, drinking habits and socio-economic class. Leon and his colleagues concluded that 43 percent of those deaths were caused by hazardous drinking.

‘Surrogate’ alcohols

Price and accessibility are major factors in the popularity of drinking cologne and other so-called “surrogate” alcohols. They cost a fraction of what vodka costs, and are available in the ubiquitous kiosks and pharmacies on Russian streets. The products also typically contain as much as 97 percent ethanol — compared with the 43 percent in Russian vodka.

Smoking and lower levels of education were both associated with markers of problem drinking. But whether men drank hazardous alcohol was the most potent predictor of mortality, said Leon. Men who did so had an approximately six-fold increase in death compared with men who did not.

Alcoholism has long been thought to be linked to mortality in Russia. Death rates dropped sharply in the mid-1980s when former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced anti-alcoholism campaigns. And in a society that has a word for continual drunkenness lasting more than two days — zapoi — experts say the findings underline Russia’s problem with alcohol.

To address the problem, experts recommend higher taxes for alcohol and stricter regulation of how ethanol is used in products not meant for consumption. Though Russia has taken steps to limit the use of alcohol in colognes, they have not addressed the use of ethanol in medicines. Combating rampant alcoholism in Russia also will require a sea change in social mores that will undoubtedly take years, experts say. “Banning surrogate alcohols doesn’t mean you’re suddenly going to get a population who are upright and sober,” Leon said. “But what you’ll get is a population that takes longer to kill themselves.”

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

Annals of Russian Self-Destruction: In "Wealthy" Putin’s Russia, They’re still Reduced to Drinking Aftershave

MSNBC reports:

Drinking alcohol not meant for consumption such as cologne and antiseptics may be responsible for nearly half of all deaths among working-age men in Russia, according to a study published Friday in The Lancet. “It’s an astounding finding,” said Sir Richard Peto, a professor of medical statistics and epidemiology at Oxford University who was not connected to the study. While the scientists limited their research to the Russian city of Izhevsk, experts suspect the community is probably not atypical. “Evidence is emerging from other areas to suggest this is a nationwide problem,” Peto said.

The research suggests that despite Russia’s economic resurgence in the past decade, it still faces staggering social and health problems, especially in provincial areas far from Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Dr. David Leon of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and colleagues looked at all the deaths of men aged 25-54 in Izhevsk, a city in the Urals, from 2003 to 2005. They also interviewed the men’s close relatives to determine contributing factors, such as their health status, drinking habits and socio-economic class. Leon and his colleagues concluded that 43 percent of those deaths were caused by hazardous drinking.

‘Surrogate’ alcohols

Price and accessibility are major factors in the popularity of drinking cologne and other so-called “surrogate” alcohols. They cost a fraction of what vodka costs, and are available in the ubiquitous kiosks and pharmacies on Russian streets. The products also typically contain as much as 97 percent ethanol — compared with the 43 percent in Russian vodka.

Smoking and lower levels of education were both associated with markers of problem drinking. But whether men drank hazardous alcohol was the most potent predictor of mortality, said Leon. Men who did so had an approximately six-fold increase in death compared with men who did not.

Alcoholism has long been thought to be linked to mortality in Russia. Death rates dropped sharply in the mid-1980s when former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev introduced anti-alcoholism campaigns. And in a society that has a word for continual drunkenness lasting more than two days — zapoi — experts say the findings underline Russia’s problem with alcohol.

To address the problem, experts recommend higher taxes for alcohol and stricter regulation of how ethanol is used in products not meant for consumption. Though Russia has taken steps to limit the use of alcohol in colognes, they have not addressed the use of ethanol in medicines. Combating rampant alcoholism in Russia also will require a sea change in social mores that will undoubtedly take years, experts say. “Banning surrogate alcohols doesn’t mean you’re suddenly going to get a population who are upright and sober,” Leon said. “But what you’ll get is a population that takes longer to kill themselves.”

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !

The "Russian Solution" to Putin: Alcoholic Stupor

Australia’s Herald Sun reports:

RUSSIA’S average annual alcohol consumption has reached 15 litres per person, nearly tripling the 1990 average of 5.4 litres, the country’s consumer protection agency said today.

“The ever higher consumption of alcohol by adolescents and women is especially worrying and significantly increases the risk of the appearance of alcohol-related illnesses,” said the agency, called Rospotrebnadzor. The new average was also far higher than the 9.7 litres of alcohol Russians put away in 2005, when some 2.3 million of the country’s 142 million people were considered alcoholics, according to Rospotrebnadzor. While Russians still drink a lot of vodka, they are consuming ever more beer and other drinks with low alcohol levels. The production of such drinks increased six-fold between 1998 and 2006, and sales were multiplied by three over the same period. Last year, 12 billion litres of alcohol were sold in Russia, of which 75 per cent was beer, 16 per cent vodka and other hard liquor, eight per cent wine and one per cent cognac. The number of alcohol-linked deaths meanwhile dropped to 28,386 in 2006 from 40,877 a year earlier {LR: that’s only if you believe the Kremlin’s data}, but they still represented 12 per cent of all deaths in Russia {LR: because Russia’s population keeps getting smaller and smaller}. The sale of home-brewed alcohol also continued to kill. 1074 people died after drinking bad moonshine last year alone, according to Rospotrebnadzor. The agency said five per cent of alcohol sold in 2006 did not conform to sanitary criteria, up from 2.6 per cent a year earlier. Australian Bureau of Statistics figures for alcohol consumption in Australia in 2004-05 by those aged 15 years and over was 9.8 litres per person.

Thanks for reading La Russophobe !