2016 Irkutsk mass methanol poisoning

{{See also|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.{{cite web|url=http://carnegie.ru/2017/02/02/decline-not-collapse-bleak-prospects-for-russia-s-economy-pub-67865|title=Decline, Not Collapse: The Bleak Prospects for Russia's Economy |last=Movchan |first=Andrey |work=Carnegie Moscow Center |author-link=Andrey Movchan |date=2017-02-02 |access-date=2017-03-05 |archive-date=6 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170306210330/http://carnegie.ru/2017/02/02/decline-not-collapse-bleak-prospects-for-russia-s-economy-pub-67865 |url-status=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.{{Cite journal |last=Topilin |first=A. |year=2022 |title=Economic Growth and the Standard of Living in Irkutsk Oblast: A Case of Study of Regional Imbalance |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10611991.2022.2141545 |journal=Problems of Economic Transition |volume=63 |issue=4–6 |pages=212–223 |doi=10.1080/10611991.2022.2141545 |issn=1061-1991}} 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.

File:Total alcohol consumption per capita - litres of pure alcohol - 2015.png

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 average of {{convert|11.7|L|gal|sp=us}} per person every year (as of 2016).{{Cite book |first1=Vladimir |last1=Poznyak |first2=Dag |last2=Rekve |date=2018 |title=Global status report on alcohol and health 2018 |url=https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/274603/9789241565639-eng.pdf#page=363 |chapter=Appendix I |location=Geneva |publisher=World Health Organization |page=345 |isbn=978-92-4-156563-9}}{{efn-ua|The World Health Organization said that their estimated consumption total covers "recorded and unrecorded alcohol per capital consumption" in individuals aged 15 or higher.}} To continue those drinking habits amidst the declining economic situation, many Russians turned to less-regulated surrogate alcohols. Even the cheapest vodkas, carrying government-regulated prices, could not compete with surrogates that retailed for half the price.{{Cite news |first=Nick |last=Connolly |title=A city in shock |date=2016-12-25 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/siberian-city-in-shock-after-russian-bath-lotion-deaths/a-36885336 |access-date=2023-03-09 |work=Deutsche Welle |archive-date=9 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309050903/https://www.dw.com/en/siberian-city-in-shock-after-russian-bath-lotion-deaths/a-36885336 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Shaun |author-link=Shaun Walker (journalist) |date=2016-12-19 |title=Siberian city declares emergency as dozens die from drinking alcoholic bath tincture |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/19/russia-irkutsk-surrogate-alcohol-siberia |access-date=2024-08-15 |newspaper=The Guardian }}

Experts estimated that surrogate alcohols made up twenty percent of the total alcohol consumed in Russia.{{Cite news |last1=Puzyrev |first1=Denis |last2=Kravtsov |first2=Anton |date=24 November 2016 |title=Расследование РБК: как «аптечный алкоголизм» покоряет Россию |trans-title=RBC investigation: How "pharmacy alcoholism" is conquering Russia |work=RBK Group |url=https://www.rbc.ru/investigation/business/24/11/2016/5836fabd9a7947f82e05d12b |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161125044034/https://www.rbc.ru/investigation/business/24/11/2016/5836fabd9a7947f82e05d12b |archive-date=25 November 2016 |language=ru}} Other experts estimated that more than ten million Russians routinely purchased such alcohol,{{cite book|last=Walker|first=Shaun|title=The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past|location=New York|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0-19-065924-0|page=248}} and that its consumption had increased by as much as 65 percent since the introduction of an alcohol excise tax in 2009.{{Cite news |last=Panin |first=Alexander |date=2015-02-02 |title=Russia Cuts Price of Vodka Amid Double-Digit Inflation |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/archive/russia-cuts-price-of-vodka-amid-double-digit-inflation |access-date=2024-08-23 |newspaper=The Moscow Times }} Such a widespread use of surrogate alcohols led to increasing amounts of alcohol poisonings,{{Cite journal |last1=Andreev |first1=Evgeny |last2=Bogoyavlensky |first2=Dmitri |last3=Stickley |first3=Andrew |date=March–April 2013 |title=Comparing Alcohol Mortality in Tsarist and Contemporary Russia: Is the Current Situation Historically Unique? |journal=Alcohol and Alcoholism |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=215–221 |doi=10.1093/alcalc/ags132 |issn=0735-0414 |doi-access=free|pmid=23316073 }} adding to a problem that was already severe in Russia as of the early 21st century.{{Cite journal |last1=Stickley |first1=A. |last2=Leinsalu |first2=M. |last3=Andreev |first3=E. |last4=Razvodovsky |first4=Y. |last5=Vagero |first5=D. |last6=McKee |first6=M. |date=October 2007 |title=Alcohol poisoning in Russia and the countries in the European part of the former Soviet Union, 1970 2002 |journal=European Journal of Public Health |volume=17 |issue=5 |pages=444–449 |doi=10.1093/eurpub/ckl275 |issn=1101-1262 |doi-access=free|pmid=17327281 }}

{{external media

| float = right

| topic = Examples of hawthorn-scented bath oil

| caption =

| headerimage =

| image1 = [https://tassphoto.com/en/feature/210165/police-discovers-illegal-distillery-of-hawthorn-concentrate-in-irkutsk-region/page/1/nobc/1 {{lang|ru-Latn|Boyaryshnik|italic=no}}, the surrogate alcohol brand involved in the poisoning, and the location where it was produced] (via TASS)

| image2 = [https://tassphoto.com/en/feature/210040/more-than-40-people-die-after-consuming-hawthorn-infusion-in-irkutsk/page/1/nobc/1 {{lang|ru-Latn|Boyaryshnik|italic=no}} and other similar surrogate alcohols] (via TASS)

| image3 = [https://riamediabank.ru/story/list_537896/ Images of {{lang|ru-Latn|Boyaryshnik|italic=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,{{Cite news |date=2016-12-19 |title=Dozens die in Russia after drinking bath oil |url=https://www.dw.com/en/dozens-die-in-russia-after-drinking-bath-oil/a-36827937 |access-date=2024-09-06 |newspaper=Deutsche Welle }} was caused by an adulterated batch of alcoholic hawthorn-scented bath oil. It was named {{lang|ru-Latn|Boyaryshnik|italic=no}} ({{langx|ru|«Боярышник»}}), the Russian word for hawthorn, and was also described as a lotion.{{Cite news |date=2016-12-21 |title=Russia bath lotion poisoning: Number of dead rises to 58 |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38384892 |access-date=2024-08-15 |work=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:

{{Quote|You can buy {{lang|ru-Latn|Boyaryshnik|italic=no}} in a pharmacy, a medicinal tincture. And then there is the {{lang|ru-Latn|Boyaryshnik|italic=no}} spirit, which they call medicinal, but really it's just alcohol with the taste of {{lang|ru-Latn|Boyaryshnik|italic=no}}. It's bootlegging, pure and simple.{{Cite magazine |last=Luhn |first=Alec |date=2016-12-22 |title=72 Russians have died this week from drinking bath oil because they couldn't afford real alcohol |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/72-russians-have-died-this-week-from-drinking-bath-oil-because-they-couldnt-afford-real-alcohol/ |access-date=2024-08-13 |magazine=Vice }}}}

The {{lang|ru-Latn|Boyaryshnik|italic=no}} bottles carried clear warnings that they were not intended for consumption.{{Cite news |last1=Filipov |first1=David |last2=Schmidt |first2=Samantha |date=2021-10-25 |title=Nearly 50 people dead from alcohol poisoning after drinking bath oil in Siberian city |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/12/19/33-people-dead-from-alcohol-poisoning-after-drinking-bath-lotion-in-siberian-city/ |access-date=2024-08-15 |newspaper=The Washington Post |url-access=subscription}} However, many Russians knew that the product was meant to be a cheap vodka substitute and government authorities condoned its sale. The oil 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/world/after-72-die-putin-tightens-limits-on-consumer-products-high-in-alcohol.html|title=After 72 Die, Putin Tightens Limits on Consumer Products High in Alcohol|first=Ivan|last=Nechepurenko|authorlink=Ivan Nechepurenko|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2016-12-22|access-date=2016-12-22|archive-date=25 December 2016|archive-url=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|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}

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.{{cite news |last=Kupfer |first=Matthew |date=2016-11-25 |title=Reports Show Russia's Illegal 'Pharmacy-Alcohol' Industry Is Booming |url=https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/report-russias-illegal-pharmacy-alcohol-industry-growing-56313 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170602170127/https://themoscowtimes.com/articles/report-russias-illegal-pharmacy-alcohol-industry-growing-56313 |archive-date=2 June 2017 |access-date=2017-03-05 |newspaper=The Moscow Times}}

{{more information|Methanol toxicity}}

File:Methanol ethanol vials.jpg

Methanol is a poisonous substance.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/world/europe/russia-bath-lotion-deaths.html|title=In Russia, Dozens Die After Drinking Alcohol Substitute|last=Nechepurenko|first=Ivan|date=2016-12-19|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=2016-12-19|archive-date=19 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161219211414/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/19/world/europe/russia-bath-lotion-deaths.html|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}{{efn-ua|Methanol is also known as methyl alcohol or wood alcohol, and it has the chemical formula CH₃OH.{{Cite encyclopedia |last=Wade |first=Leroy G. |title=Physical properties of alcohols |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/alcohol/Physical-properties-of-alcohols |access-date=2024-08-18 |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica }}}} It is difficult to tell apart from ethanol,{{efn-ua|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.{{Cite journal |last1=Nekoukar |first1=Zahra |last2=Zakariaei |first2=Zakaria |last3=Taghizadeh |first3=Fatemeh |last4=Musavi |first4=Fatemeh |last5=Banimostafavi |first5=Elham Sadat |last6=Sharifpour |first6=Ali |last7=Ghuchi |first7=Nasrin Ebrahim |last8=Fakhar |first8=Mahdi |last9=Tabaripour |first9=Rabeeh |last10=Safanavaei |first10=Sepideh |date=June 2021 |title=Methanol poisoning as a new world challenge: A review |journal=Annals of Medicine & Surgery |volume=66 |doi=10.1016/j.amsu.2021.102445 |issn=2049-0801 |pmc=8187162 |pmid=34141419}}

Methanol can enter the body when drunk, when placed on the skin, or when the vapors are inhaled. Amounts as small as {{convert|10|ml|USfloz|sp=us}} can be fatal, although people have survived amounts as high as {{convert|400|ml|USfloz|sp=us}}.{{efn-ua|According to Human Toxicology, which gives a smaller lethal range of {{convert|30|-|240|ml|USfloz|sp=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".{{cite book |last1=Jacobsen |first1=D. |chapter=Alcohols and glycols |date=1996 |title=Human Toxicology |pages=623–648 |publisher=Elsevier |doi=10.1016/b978-044481557-6/50026-5 |isbn=978-0-444-81557-6 |last2=McMartin |first2=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.

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.{{cite news |url=https://www.interfax.ru/russia/597863 |title=Суд ограничился штрафом поставщику метанола для погубившего 76 иркутян "Боярышника" |trans-title=The court limited itself to a fine for the methanol supplier of the "Hawthorn" that killed 76 people in Irkutsk |date=31 January 2018 |agency=Interfax |access-date=2024-08-16 |language=ru}}{{efn-ua|The company head had acquired the methanol illegally and made the windshield fluid with it in place of the legally required isopropanol.}}

{{external media

| float = right

| topic =

| image1 = [https://tassphoto.com/en/feature/210213/surviving-irkutsk-methyl-alcohol-poisoning-victims-in-intensive-care/page/1/nobc/1 Poisoning survivors in intensive care] (via TASS)

| image2 = [https://tassphoto.com/en/feature/210404/alcohol-poisoning-victims-at-irkutsk-hospital/page/1/nobc/1 The hospital where poisoned individuals were taken] (via TASS)

|image3 = [https://riamediabank.ru/story/list_538083/ 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.{{Cite news |date=2016-12-19 |title=Отравление «Боярышником»: хронология |trans-title="Hawthorn" poisoning: a timeline |url=https://www.irk.ru/news/articles/20161219/poisoning/ |access-date=2024-08-16 |website=Irk.ru |agency=Irkutsk Online |language=ru}}{{Cite news |date=2016-12-24 |title=Отравление метанолом в Иркутске: главное за неделю |trans-title=Methanol poisoning in Irkutsk: key events of the week |url=https://www.irk.ru/news/articles/20161224/poisoning/ |access-date=2024-08-16 |website=Irk.ru |agency=Irkutsk Online |language=ru}} By the end of the next day, a total of 57 people had been hospitalized and 49 were dead.{{cite news|url=https://www.apnews.com/c0c419587e7d44ec8a6c6ac2685b8f2a/Alcohol-poisoning-death-toll-in-Russian-city-rises-to-48|title=Alcohol poisoning death toll in Russian city rises to 49|last=Isachenkov|first=Vladimir|date=2016-12-19|work=Associated Press|access-date=2016-12-19|archive-date=20 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220183656/https://www.apnews.com/c0c419587e7d44ec8a6c6ac2685b8f2a/Alcohol-poisoning-death-toll-in-Russian-city-rises-to-48|url-status=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.{{cite news |date=2016-12-20 |title=Death toll in Siberian mass alcohol poisoning case rises to 52 |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/world/death-toll-in-siberian-mass-alcohol-poisoning-case-rises-to-52-idUSKBN1490S8/ |access-date=2024-08-18 |work=Reuters}} Those numbers rose to 62 dead plus 40 hospitalized on 21 December;{{Cite news |last=Reevell |first=Patrick |date=2016-12-21 |title=62 Die in Siberia After Drinking Counterfeit Bath Oil |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/62-die-siberia-drinking-counterfeit-bath-oil/story?id=44324727 |access-date=2024-08-18 |work=ABC News }} 74 plus 30 on 23 December;{{Cite news |date=2016-12-23 |title=Death Toll From Alcohol Poisoning Rises To 74 In Irkutsk |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/siberia-alcohol-poisoning-death-toll-rises-71/28190666.html |access-date=2024-08-18 |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}} 77 plus 16 on 27 December,{{cite news |last=Hobson |first=Peter |date=2016-12-27 |editor-last=Roche |editor-first=Andrew |title=Russia opens criminal case into official after 77 die of alcohol poisoning |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/world/russia-opens-criminal-case-into-official-after-77-die-of-alcohol-poisoning-idUSKBN14G103/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719013000/http://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-russia-alcohol-poisoning-idUKKBN14G119 |archive-date=2017-07-19 |access-date=2016-12-27 |work=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, as 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.{{efn-ua|name=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 {{lang|ru-Latn|Novo-Lenino|italic=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.{{cite news |last=Sinkov |first=Andrey |date=2016-12-22 |title=Отец погибшей от суррогата иркутянки: «Моя дочь не была алкоголичкой, она стала жертвой преступников» |trans-title=Father of Irkutsk woman who died from surrogate alcohol: "My daughter was not an alcoholic; she became a victim of criminals" |url=https://www.irk.kp.ru/daily/26623.4/3640668/ |newspaper=Komsomolskaya Pravda |language=ru |access-date=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${{To USD|13325|RUS|year=2016|r=-1}} in 2016).{{Cite news |date=2016-12-23 |title=Семьи погибших от «Боярышника» получат компенсации от иркутских властей |trans-title=The families of those who died from "Hawthorn" will receive compensation from the Irkutsk authorities |url=https://irk.aif.ru/society/semi_pogibshih_ot_boyaryshnika_poluchat_kompensacii_ot_irkutskih_vlastey |access-date=2024-08-16 |newspaper=Argumenty i Fakty |language=ru}}

Irkutsk's mayor Dmitry Berdnikov declared a state of emergency on 19 December.{{Cite news |date=2016-12-19 |title=Dozens Dead In Siberia After Drinking Body Lotion; Seven Arrested |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/siberia-alcohol-poisoning-body-lotion/28184206.html |access-date=2024-08-15 |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty }} By the next day, the Russian government said that it had seized about {{convert|2000|L|gal|sp=us}} of illegal alcohol, uncovered a bath oil production facility, and removed {{convert|500|L|gal|sp=us}} of remaining bath oil from the shelves of around 100 retailers in the Irkutsk area.{{Cite news |title=Продавцы убившего 26 человек в Иркутске "Боярышника" задержаны |trans-title=The sellers of the "Hawthorn" that killed 26 people in Irkutsk have been detained |url=https://www.bbc.com/russian/news-38363926 |date=2016-12-20 |access-date=2024-08-15 |work=BBC News Russian |language=ru}} On the 23rd, the state-owned TASS news agency reported that Russian police had seized over 10,000 small bath oil bottles.{{Cite news |date=2016-12-22 |title=Some 10,000 bottles of poisonous bath lotion seized in Siberia's Irkutsk |url=https://tass.com/society/921612 |access-date=2024-08-13 |work=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.{{cite news|url=https://themoscowtimes.com/news/suspected-surrogate-alcohol-supplier-arrested-in-irkutsk-56627|title=Suspected Surrogate Alcohol Supplier Arrested in Irkutsk|newspaper=The Moscow Times|date=2016-12-23|access-date=2017-03-05|archive-date=15 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180715055329/https://themoscowtimes.com/news/suspected-surrogate-alcohol-supplier-arrested-in-irkutsk-56627|url-status=live}} A further five people were arrested in January 2017 and charged with selling and publicizing surrogate alcohol.{{cite news|url=https://themoscowtimes.com/news/counterfeit-alcohol-makers-arrested-in-siberia-56986|title=Counterfeit Alcohol Producers Arrested in Siberia|newspaper=The Moscow Times|date=2017-01-31|access-date=2017-03-05|archive-date=4 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231004130248/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2017/01/31/counterfeit-alcohol-makers-arrested-in-siberia-a56986|url-status=live}} In February 2020, the last of 19 individuals jailed or fined for distributing the product was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison.{{Cite news |date=2020-02-28 |title=Supplier Of Deadly Bath Lotion In Siberia Jailed |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/supplier-of-deadly-bath-lotion-in-siberia-jailed/30460396.html |access-date=2023-03-09 |archive-date=9 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230309045814/https://www.rferl.org/a/supplier-of-deadly-bath-lotion-in-siberia-jailed/30460396.html |url-status=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.{{cite news|url=https://themoscowtimes.com/news/alcohol-based-medicines-to-need-prescriptions-after-siberian-poisoning-tragedy-56619|title=Alcohol-Based Medicines to Need Prescriptions After Siberian Poisoning Tragedy|newspaper=The Moscow Times|date=2016-12-22|access-date=2017-03-05|archive-date=22 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222142444/https://themoscowtimes.com/news/alcohol-based-medicines-to-need-prescriptions-after-siberian-poisoning-tragedy-56619|url-status=live}} Alexei Navalny, an opposition politician, alleged that "{{lang|ru-Latn|Boyaryshnik|italic=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,{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/21/vladimir-putin-clampdown-surrogate-alcohol-deaths-fake-bath-tincture-irkutsk |title=Vladimir Putin orders clampdown on 'surrogate' alcohol as deaths rise |last=Walker |first=Shaun |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2016-12-21 |access-date=2016-12-21 |archive-date=10 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010125441/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/21/vladimir-putin-clampdown-surrogate-alcohol-deaths-fake-bath-tincture-irkutsk |url-status=live }} and expanding the alcohol excise tax to alcohol-containing products in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics business sectors.{{Cite news |date=2016-12-21 |title=Путин: нужно повышать акцизы, а не продавать флакончики за три копейки |trans-title=Putin: we need to raise excise taxes, not sell bottles for three kopecks |url=https://ria.ru/20161221/1484263530.html |access-date=2024-08-16 |work=RIA Novosti |language=ru}}{{efn-ua|Some media articles referred to this as a proposal to decrease alcohol taxes.{{Cite news |last=Kottasova |first=Ivana |date=2016-12-22 |title=Putin cracks down on moonshine amid poisoning crisis |url=https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/22/news/russia-alcohol-crackdown/index.html |access-date=2024-08-16 |work=CNN Business }}{{Cite news |date=2016-12-21 |title=Putin Plans Alcohol Tax Cuts After Siberian Poisoning Tragedy |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2016/12/21/putin-plans-alcohol-tax-cuts-after-siberian-poisoning-tragedy-a56602 |access-date=2024-08-16 |newspaper=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).{{cite news|url=https://themoscowtimes.com/news/sales-of-non-food-products-containing-alcohol-suspended-56643|title=Russia Suspends Sale of Non-Food Products Containing Alcohol|newspaper=The Moscow Times|date=2016-12-26|access-date=2017-03-05|archive-date=11 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711234836/https://themoscowtimes.com/news/sales-of-non-food-products-containing-alcohol-suspended-56643|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russia-extends-alcohol-product-restrictions-by-2-months-56917|title=Russia Extends Restrictions on Sale of Alcohol Products After Mass Poisoning|newspaper=The Moscow Times|date=2017-01-25|access-date=2017-03-05|archive-date=2 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002141527/https://themoscowtimes.com/news/russia-extends-alcohol-product-restrictions-by-2-months-56917|url-status=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.{{Cite journal |last1=Neufeld |first1=Maria |last2=Rehm |first2=Jürgen |date=April 2018 |title=Newest policy developments regarding surrogate alcohol consumption in Russia |journal=International Journal of Drug Policy |volume=54 |pages=58–59 |doi=10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.11.013|pmid=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.{{Cite journal |last1=Gil |first1=Artyom |last2=Savchuk |first2=Sergey |last3=Appolonova |first3=Svetlana |last4=Allenov |first4=Andrey |last5=Khalfin |first5=Ruslan |date=April 2021 |title=Availability of non-beverage alcohols in Russia in 2015–2020: Were control policies implemented since 2005 effective? |journal=Journal of Law, Public Policies, and Human Sciences |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=08–34 |doi=10.52571/JLPPHS.v02.n02.pgi.08.2021 |doi-access=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.{{cite journal|title=Effectiveness of policy changes to reduce harm from unrecorded alcohol in Russia between 2005 and now| journal=International Journal of Drug Policy| first1=Maria |last1=Neufeld |first2=Jürgen |last2=Rehm| date=January 2018 | volume=51 |pages=Appendix A/Web supplementary data |doi=10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.09.006| pmid=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 of 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.{{Cite journal |last1=Neufeld |first1=Maria |last2=Bobrova |first2=Anastacia |last3=Davletov |first3=Kairat |last4=Štelemėkas |first4=Mindaugas |last5=Stoppel |first5=Relika |last6=Ferreira-Borges |first6=Carina |last7=Breda |first7=João |last8=Rehm |first8=Jürgen |date=March 2021 |title=Alcohol control policies in Former Soviet Union countries: A narrative review of three decades of policy changes and their apparent effects |journal=Drug and Alcohol Review |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=350–367 |doi=10.1111/dar.13204 |issn=0959-5236 |pmc=7936953 |pmid=33155370}}

• List of methanol poisoning incidents

{{notelist-ua}}

{{reflist}}

• {{Cite journal |last1=Kazun |first1=Anastasia |last2=Kazun |first2=Anton |date=Summer 2019 |title=How State-Controlled Media Can Set the Agenda on the Internet: Coverage of Three Tragedies on Different Types of Russian Media |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/280/article/729528/summary |journal=Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=371–398 |issn=1940-4603}}
• {{Cite journal |last1=Lachenmeier |first1=Dirk W. |last2=Neufeld |first2=Maria |last3=Rehm |first3=Jürgen |date=January 2021 |title=The Impact of Unrecorded Alcohol Use on Health: What Do We Know in 2020? |url=https://www.jsad.com/doi/10.15288/jsad.2021.82.28 |journal=Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs |volume=82 |issue=1 |pages=28–41 |doi=10.15288/jsad.2021.82.28|pmid=33573720 |s2cid=231901412 }}

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