vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #542 / Social life / Reading article...

In the first nine months of 2006, a total of 187 people have died of alcohol poisoning, including incidents resulting from the consumption of tainted alcohol and alcohol-containing products, a statement from the Primorye Federal Statistics Department reported.

The figure is less than for the same period in 2005, with 293 alcohol-related deaths reported in the region.

Despite the overall positive tendency for decreasing alcohol-related deaths, in half of Primorye’s 22 counties, as well as in the towns of Dalnerechensk, Spassk-Dalny and Ussurisk, the death rate is 1.5 times higher than the average in Primorye. Most cases of alcohol poisoning were reported in Khorolsky County in south-western Primorye, the statement said.

Among Primorye’s towns, Ussurisk ranks first with 28 cases of fatal alcohol poisoning reported in the nine months of this year. In Vladivostok 22 such cases were registered for the same period.

No alcohol-related deaths were observed in the towns of Bolshoy Kamen, Chuguyevsky and Shkotovsky County in the nine months of this year.

Meanwhile, in Tuesday’s session the Commission for Quality and Safety in Vladivostok’s consumer market ruled that the unauthorized kiosks, where the impure alcohol is usually sold, are to be removed, a statement from the city administration reported.

The commission also developed an additional schedule for the inspection of retail outlets to combat the sale of tainted alcohol, the statement said. The petition assembled by the commission members suggests the cancellation of contracts with the outlets selling unlicensed alcohol.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday State Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov suggested establishing a state monopoly on the sale of alcoholic beverages. The statement followed reports of massive cases of toxic hepatitis and alcohol-related deaths in Russia.

In the Perm region, 222 people have been hospitalized with alcohol poisoning as of Tuesday, nine people have died. In Irkutsk region, over a thousand people were diagnosed with alcohol poisoning for the last several months, 39 of them died. In Samara region, 1,225 people were hospitalized with alcohol poisoning in this year’s first few months, most of them consumed tainted alcohol.