Thread: Vodka, Russians, and Alcohol

Fake Russian alcohol 'kills many'
By Steven Eke
BBC News



Mr Nurgaliyev wants tougher measures to tackle alcoholism
Poisoning by counterfeit alcohol kills 42,000 Russians every year, the country's interior minister has said.

Rashid Nurgaliyev said bottles of alcohol on sale in Russian shops often contained poisonous liquids, and called the problem a "national tragedy".

He also said a significant amount of alcohol imported from other parts of the former Soviet Union was faked.

Mr Nurgaliyev has led efforts to crack down on alcoholism in Russia which causes an epidemic of ill-health.

Import ban

Food shops and convenience stores in Russian towns frequently offer a dazzling range of alcoholic drinks, sometimes in very elaborate bottles and packages.

But as Russia's interior minister pointed out, what they contain is sometimes not vodka, cognac or wine, but any number of potentially fatal substances.

It is estimated that every third Russian man and every seventh Russian woman is an alcoholic


Speaking in the Russian city of Novgorod, the minister said that bottles of White Stork - a rather cheap but once popular brand of cognac - were still on sale, despite the fact that production of it ended years ago.

Mr Nurgaliyev also repeated the claims heard from the Russian ministry of health, that much, if not most, of the wine from Georgia and Moldova is counterfeit and potentially harmful.

The governments of both those countries are convinced that the Russian ban on their wine, one of their few lucrative exports, is politically motivated, and actually designed to punish them for their pro-Western policies.

Limited progress

Whatever the reality behind that, Russia's problem with alcohol remains serious.

More than 100 people die every day, having poisoned themselves on counterfeit alcoholic drinks.

It is estimated that every third Russian man and every seventh Russian woman, is an alcoholic.

Mr Nurgaliyev has adopted tougher measures to try to deal with the problem, - encouraging, for example, bans on the sale of alcohol at night, or to minors.

But progress has been limited, and Russia's love of the bottle continues to fuel some of the world's highest rates of fatal accidents, premature death, violent crime and domestic violence.

my teacher said her friend's son died from drinking some fake vodka. (he bought it from a kiosk, back when you could).
lately i noticed that in many of the produkti and small shops near the metro they have stopped selling vodka. must be new measures...

It is estimated that every third Russian man and every seventh Russian woman is an alcoholic

Is this true? Hey I know you guys like your vodka but 1 in 3 guys?

Thats preety bad though with the fake vodka. Thats kind of wierd again as all the vodka we drink in the UK is generally imported from Russia (apart from absolut from sweden)

Sco

Originally Posted by andrewsco

Is this true? Hey I know you guys like your vodka but 1 in 3 guys?

Sco

According to the WHO's official data, the adult per capita alcohol (pure ethanol) consumption in the year 2001 was

France 13.54 litres
Russian Federation 10.58 litres
UK 10.39 litres
Australia 9.19 litres
Italy 9.14 litres
USA 8.51 litres
Canada 8.26 litres
Belarus 8.12 litres
Ukraine 4.04 litres

I don't know how accurate this statistics is but you can get some idea.

What surprises me is that Ukraine is so much lower than Russia... Is there really that much difference between the Ukranian drunks and the Russian drunks?

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

What surprises me is that Ukraine is so much lower than Russia... Is there really that much difference between the Ukranian drunks and the Russian drunks?

I seriously suspect there is quite a bit of unrecorded consumption in the FSU countries, mostly in rural areas, but I don't know how to take that into consideration.

I think we also should take into account not just pure ethanol consumption but WHAT people drink and HOW they do it. Well, let's compare France and Russia. French people mostly drink wine that is less harmful for their health than vodka consumed by the vast majirity of Russians. Besides Russians tend to drink large amount of alcohol in short period of time that leverages the negative effect of alcohol.

Originally Posted by adoc

Originally Posted by andrewsco

Is this true? Hey I know you guys like your vodka but 1 in 3 guys?

Sco

According to the WHO's official data, the adult per capita alcohol (pure ethanol) consumption in the year 2001 was

France 13.54 litres
Russian Federation 10.58 litres
UK 10.39 litres
Australia 9.19 litres
Italy 9.14 litres
USA 8.51 litres
Canada 8.26 litres
Belarus 8.12 litres
Ukraine 4.04 litres

I don't know how accurate this statistics is but you can get some idea.

These data are official registered sales of alcohol. The estimates of total consumption is about twice higher. I had a Russian article about alcohol consumption trend in 1999-2002 (when there was a "beer war", i.e. TV was exploding from beer ads) and the whole XX century in total. That's a very sad view. I'll search and post a link here.

I would certainly like to know which drinks companies have stopped selling their products so I can at least rule them out as counterfeit... Has anything for this purpose been published or posted somewhere on the internet?

Originally Posted by Slavophile

I would certainly like to know which drinks companies have stopped selling their products so I can at least rule them out as counterfeit... Has anything for this purpose been published or posted somewhere on the internet?

Its not a good way to rule out fake production. You can make a mistake...

It's better than nothing, since you have a very high certainty that its a fake if the company that produces it no longer functions (and has not functioned for, say, a year and a half?)

I do not care...
Cause I do not drink vodka.
I prefer whisky and Turkish raki.

I would say the simplest way to tell the legit from the illegit is this: you get what you pay for. If you're paying 10 rubles for a bottle of the stuff, I would suspect you're about to experience some rather uncomfortable feelings. If you're buying a mid- or high- grade vodka, then you're probably safer.

But that is not always the case. Opportunism is a very easy philosophy to live by...

Oh, and be extra wary of local specialities...

You're all drunks, you who worry so much about counterfeit vodka. And isn't it nice that most of you aren't Russians. Kind of an eye opener, isn't it? I know you Russians like your vodka... Look who's talking! I'm teetotal. My friends are teetotal. My friends' friends are teetotal. The only drunks I know are foreigners.

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

You're all drunks, you who worry so much about counterfeit vodka. And isn't it nice that most of you aren't Russians. Kind of an eye opener, isn't it? I know you Russians like your vodka... Look who's talking! I'm teetotal. My friends are teetotal. My friends' friends are teetotal. The only drunks I know are foreigners.

Конечно, ты совершенно прав: тут на форуме одни алкоголики собрались. Как это я раньше не замечала?

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

You're all drunks, you who worry so much about counterfeit vodka. And isn't it nice that most of you aren't Russians. Kind of an eye opener, isn't it? I know you Russians like your vodka... Look who's talking! I'm teetotal. My friends are teetotal. My friends' friends are teetotal. The only drunks I know are foreigners.

Golden words!

Originally Posted by Бармалей

I would say the simplest way to tell the legit from the illegit is this: you get what you pay for. If you're paying 10 rubles for a bottle of the stuff, I would suspect you're about to experience some rather uncomfortable feelings. If you're buying a mid- or high- grade vodka, then you're probably safer.

I've drunk Vodka only once in my life. It was about 7 days ago. I hope I don't drink much in the future. What you wrote doesn't work all the time and this is the problem. An expensive bottle of Vodka is no guarantee of good quality.

Конечно, ты совершенно прав: тут на форуме одни алкоголики собрались. Как это я раньше не замечала?

My opinion on this is that it's wrong to reckon that every third Russian is an alcoholic. There's hardly anyone among my friends who regularly drink vodka or any other spirits. It must be because I try not to make friends with someone who is obsessed with drinking. But I know a lot of people who aren't my friends and who doesn't drink spirits regurarly either. Well, I mean to say that just because Russians like vodka and drink it much more often than any other nation of the world doesn't make them drunks.

Originally Posted by ReDSanchous

Well, I mean to say that just because Russians like vodka and drink it much more often than any other nation of the world doesn't make them drunks.

Yes it does. That's the reputation they have unfortunately for them, and may be it is not every third person but there are a whole lot of them, this is typically russian.

I don't want to argue with you over this. I will only say that in my opinion, there aren't as many alcoholics in Russia as people abroad think. There are perhaps many more alcoholics in Russia than, say, US or England but it doesn't mean (I'm certain) that it becomes obvious to you that there are a lot of drunks in Russia once you go out of an airport's terminal.