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When vodka is your poison | When vodka is your poison |
(20 minutes later) | |
By John Sweeney BBC News, Russia | By John Sweeney BBC News, Russia |
Thousands of Russians may have been poisoned by bootleg alcohol containing medical disinfectant causing drinkers' skin to turn yellow before they fall dangerously ill or die. | Thousands of Russians may have been poisoned by bootleg alcohol containing medical disinfectant causing drinkers' skin to turn yellow before they fall dangerously ill or die. |
I had a quick sniff... and a quick gulp John Sweeney is also reporting for BBC Two's This World: Vodka's My PoisonWed 14 March 1900GMT, BBC Two Programme preview Pskov is the end of the line. I got off the Moscow overnight express and the earth started to buckle in front of me. | I had a quick sniff... and a quick gulp John Sweeney is also reporting for BBC Two's This World: Vodka's My PoisonWed 14 March 1900GMT, BBC Two Programme preview Pskov is the end of the line. I got off the Moscow overnight express and the earth started to buckle in front of me. |
On the Pskov express I had played chess with a couple of Russians, the vodka bottles had come out, and soon every move of a pawn was celebrated with a toast. | On the Pskov express I had played chess with a couple of Russians, the vodka bottles had come out, and soon every move of a pawn was celebrated with a toast. |
If you're interested, I was about to win when the Russian bloke nicked my queen - anyway, I had had enough to drink to kill a small horse. | If you're interested, I was about to win when the Russian bloke nicked my queen - anyway, I had had enough to drink to kill a small horse. |
There is something about the light - or the lack of it - that eats the soul in Russia, that makes you drink. The dark days in winter, the grimness of ordinary life. They say one in six Russians is an alcoholic. | There is something about the light - or the lack of it - that eats the soul in Russia, that makes you drink. The dark days in winter, the grimness of ordinary life. They say one in six Russians is an alcoholic. |
That is why President Putin, the former KGB man, is something of a puritan - at least in public. | That is why President Putin, the former KGB man, is something of a puritan - at least in public. |
He has brought in a series of laws, tripling the price of vodka and threatening dire penalties if people drink black market moonshine, which they call samogon. | He has brought in a series of laws, tripling the price of vodka and threatening dire penalties if people drink black market moonshine, which they call samogon. |
And that is, of course, what everybody who can't afford shop-bought vodka does. | And that is, of course, what everybody who can't afford shop-bought vodka does. |
Across Russia as a whole, officials have not counted, but some estimate 10,000 poison cases and 1,000 dead. | Across Russia as a whole, officials have not counted, but some estimate 10,000 poison cases and 1,000 dead. |
They called it the yellow death. It started in the summer when dozens of people turned up in casualty, a vile shade of yellow. | They called it the yellow death. It started in the summer when dozens of people turned up in casualty, a vile shade of yellow. |
The dozens turned to hundreds, then a thousand. The better cases recovered, but will die long before their time. | The dozens turned to hundreds, then a thousand. The better cases recovered, but will die long before their time. |
The worst cases? Natasha is not yet 30, she's got a seven-year-old boy called Maxim and she has less than a year to live. | The worst cases? Natasha is not yet 30, she's got a seven-year-old boy called Maxim and she has less than a year to live. |
Her whole body has gone yellow - an instantly recognisable feature of toxic hepatitis. | Her whole body has gone yellow - an instantly recognisable feature of toxic hepatitis. |
Something has destroyed her liver and now all the natural toxins in the body are stacking up. | Something has destroyed her liver and now all the natural toxins in the body are stacking up. |
Her own body is poisoning her and there is nothing medicine - or at least nothing state medicine in Russia - can do about it. | Her own body is poisoning her and there is nothing medicine - or at least nothing state medicine in Russia - can do about it. |
Natasha and everyone else in the hospital corridors had bought samogon, moonshine, as usual - but something had been added to it. | Natasha and everyone else in the hospital corridors had bought samogon, moonshine, as usual - but something had been added to it. |
Clear liquid | Clear liquid |
In Pskov, the authorities have tracked more than 1,000 poisonings with 120 dead. | In Pskov, the authorities have tracked more than 1,000 poisonings with 120 dead. |
John Sweeney wonders what the counterfeit alcohol contains | John Sweeney wonders what the counterfeit alcohol contains |
Across Russia as a whole, officials have not counted, but some estimate 10,000 poison cases and 1,000 dead. | Across Russia as a whole, officials have not counted, but some estimate 10,000 poison cases and 1,000 dead. |
So who is responsible for this mass poisoning? I had gone to Pskov to try to get to the bottom of the yellow death. | So who is responsible for this mass poisoning? I had gone to Pskov to try to get to the bottom of the yellow death. |
We made friends with a gentlemanly Russian, Alexei, who was also an alcoholic, gave him a secret camera bag and sent him off to buy the samogon moonshine. | We made friends with a gentlemanly Russian, Alexei, who was also an alcoholic, gave him a secret camera bag and sent him off to buy the samogon moonshine. |
The plan was that we would then get it tested and analysed to see what the problem was. He bought the stuff for 20 roubles ($0.80, £0.40), a clear liquid in an old Coke bottle. I had a quick sniff. | The plan was that we would then get it tested and analysed to see what the problem was. He bought the stuff for 20 roubles ($0.80, £0.40), a clear liquid in an old Coke bottle. I had a quick sniff. |
The bouquet - rocket fuel with a touch of boot polish. And a quick gulp. | The bouquet - rocket fuel with a touch of boot polish. And a quick gulp. |
In the film Flash Gordon, the heroine is given a slug of bright green alcohol so that she can bear to sleep with Emperor Ming The Merciless. It tasted something like that. | In the film Flash Gordon, the heroine is given a slug of bright green alcohol so that she can bear to sleep with Emperor Ming The Merciless. It tasted something like that. |
We filmed the local cops going round busting all the little people, the street traders in samogon. | We filmed the local cops going round busting all the little people, the street traders in samogon. |
The local chief of police in Pskov, Gen Sergei Matveyev - a plump bureaucrat with a fatter gold watch - was not keen to tell me what was the most likely source of the poison. | The local chief of police in Pskov, Gen Sergei Matveyev - a plump bureaucrat with a fatter gold watch - was not keen to tell me what was the most likely source of the poison. |
Not many in authority give much of a damn about the nameless wretches of the earth: winos, moral degenerates. | Not many in authority give much of a damn about the nameless wretches of the earth: winos, moral degenerates. |
The sense that many of the yellow people were ordinary Russians who had been poisoned through no great fault of their own seemed to be missing. | The sense that many of the yellow people were ordinary Russians who had been poisoned through no great fault of their own seemed to be missing. |
Medical disinfectant | Medical disinfectant |
A doctor told me that the most likely cause was something which had been added to the moonshine - polyhexometalinguanadeenohydrochlorate. | A doctor told me that the most likely cause was something which had been added to the moonshine - polyhexometalinguanadeenohydrochlorate. |
And that stuff had got on the market as a medical disinfectant, Extrasept. It was 95% pure alcohol and tax exempt - making it cheaper than moonshine. | And that stuff had got on the market as a medical disinfectant, Extrasept. It was 95% pure alcohol and tax exempt - making it cheaper than moonshine. |
Dodgy traders had mixed the cheaper Extrasept with the home-made samogon - and made a killing. | Dodgy traders had mixed the cheaper Extrasept with the home-made samogon - and made a killing. |
It was only once I had learnt about polyhexo that I got seriously worried about the samogon I had drunk. It might have been contaminated too. Had I poisoned myself? Was I going to turn yellow, too? | It was only once I had learnt about polyhexo that I got seriously worried about the samogon I had drunk. It might have been contaminated too. Had I poisoned myself? Was I going to turn yellow, too? |
We set off from Pskov to St Petersburg, to the Institute of Toxicology. They had been feeding Extrasept to rats. The results were inconclusive. I brought along a little bottle of the stuff I had drunk. They tested it and they found no polyhexo, so I was clean. | We set off from Pskov to St Petersburg, to the Institute of Toxicology. They had been feeding Extrasept to rats. The results were inconclusive. I brought along a little bottle of the stuff I had drunk. They tested it and they found no polyhexo, so I was clean. |
The Extrasept factory was a vast sprawling mess in Alexandrov - a town associated with Ivan the Terrible. | |
The technical director said there was nothing wrong with his product - and he even drank some to prove it. I asked him: "You're not afraid of turning yellow, are you?". | The technical director said there was nothing wrong with his product - and he even drank some to prove it. I asked him: "You're not afraid of turning yellow, are you?". |
Later, when we got back to London, we had Extrasept tested on human liver cells - and it killed every single one. | Later, when we got back to London, we had Extrasept tested on human liver cells - and it killed every single one. |
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday 10 March, 2007 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times. | From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday 10 March, 2007 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times. |
John Sweeney will also be reporting on Russia's yellow death for This World on Wednesday 14 March, 2007 at 1900 GMT on BBC Two. | John Sweeney will also be reporting on Russia's yellow death for This World on Wednesday 14 March, 2007 at 1900 GMT on BBC Two. |