How much counterfeit alcohol is drunk in Ukraine, Russia and the US?

Drunkenness is the scourge of humanity. And the problem is not in the very presence of alcoholic drinks on the shelves of stores, but in that they, like all other goods, are made from the calculation of people's use of reasonable, but they are sold to everyone in succession, except for children, of course. Some wise men have guessed that alcohol is not only harmful but also useful, while others compete with them in wit, arguing that humanity would not need much time to prove the thesis of the virulence of wine, if it were true. At the same time, the mass death of people, which occurred recently in Ukraine and has no direct relationship to the conflict in the Donbass, made us again to speak on this unpleasant topic.

The Ukrainian Tragedy

Over the last ten days of September, 38 people died from acute poisoning with counterfeit alcohol in Ukraine, and another 39 people were hospitalized in a serious condition for the same reason. This information was provided by the National Food Safety and Consumer Protection Service (published by Interfax). September 21 in the Zhitomir region, doctors recorded the first case, not fatal, but ended with the incurable blindness of the patient. The next ten days did not give doctors rest, the geography of poisoning spread to the significant southeastern part of the country (Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, the city of Nikolaev). Tragic events local media, as usual, tried to give a political connotation - there were statements about the contraband origin of raw materials and its import from Russia, almost intentional. The other extreme manifested itself in the assertion that the phenomenon is exclusively social, which is explained by the impoverishment of the Ukrainian population, who is compelled to drink all sorts of nastiness in conditions of widespread high prices. Some of this is true, but something fiction, but there is also an object for study.

Wood alcohol

Judging by the symptoms, a poisonous substance, known in common speech as wood or methyl alcohol, got into the organisms of dead and diseased people, chemists use the word "methanol" for its designation. At low doses, it causes irreversible blindness, which is due to the peculiarity of its effect on the central nervous system, so that no ophthalmological clinics will help - the eyes themselves have nothing to do with the matter in the brain. If you drank more than 30 grams, in most cases the outcome is lethal. Harmful wood alcohol, even with skin contact, it is absorbed through the pores and quickly leads to a deterioration of well-being. A substance is produced for technological needs and is considered extremely harmful.

Methanol differs from many of the favorite wine alcohol (ethanol) only by the presence in the structural formula of two hydrocarbon groups of CH. This chemical relationship also causes an external similarity - both liquids are transparent and smell almost the same. It's easy to make a mistake.

In all countries

If one of the Russians assumes that methanol poisoning is a typical Ukrainian phenomenon at the actual historical stage, then he is mistaken. People perish everywhere, and, as a rule, massively. For example, in 2014, 56 Czech citizens died, buying and drinking counterfeit drinks. Even at a resort in Turkey during an elite holiday on a yacht Russian tourists were poisoned, and they used something given out for an expensive sort of whiskey. From the "zalapuhi" the British, Indians, Americans and residents of practically all other countries die, regardless of the size of the gross national product per capita and other macroeconomic indicators. Not always the reason is the desire to save, sometimes blame everything for simple ignorance or bad luck. Another question is that citizens of Ukraine now suffer more often, being tempted by a lower price than Russians, Germans or French, for example.

Why buy?

Of course, there is no question that people were deliberately poisoned. Any manufacturer, regardless of whether he is a legal or an underground one, is interested in the good reputation of his product. The death of people will be detrimental to the entire market of alcohol counterfeit - now many potential consumers will prefer to go to a proven store and pay more, but avoid risk. However, undoubtedly, those desperate heads will remain who, in conditions of high prices, will continue to buy vodka and "cognac" (differs in that the alcohol-containing liquid is colored with burnt sugar with vanillin) from the "verified" suppliers. The difference is substantial, double. If the price of half-liter in Ukraine is now about 70 hryvnia (about 270 rubles in the RF), then it is the same "left spill", sold in a one-and-a-half-liter plastic PET-container, will cost the same, but per liter.

Technology

In the USSR vodka was produced by a new method, not the same as in tsarist Russia. As a basis, in the 1920s, the principle of hydration of ethyl alcohol was taken, and if we use simpler words, ethanol is simply mixed with purified water. The product is also added salt, sugar, pepper (depending on the formulation of the brand), and everything you can drink. Of course, the technological process in the factory practice is somewhat more complicated, it includes multi-stage cleaning, dispensing and dosing are automated, and there are many other nuances, but clandestine producers are not puzzled by such small details; they just "badyazhat" (bred) purchased raw materials ( Alcohol) water from the tap water, and then poured through a funnel-watering can. The most sophisticated of counterfeiters try to make the product look like a "firm", but more often than not there is no need. The main consumers - drunkards - know their "points", and they do not need Smirno-ff.

Statistics

Staggered figures, cited by experts in the field of strong drinks market. In the United States, up to 12% of all alcohol sold is counterfeit, and this is very much for a country considered law-abiding. As for Russia, the share of illegal producers makes up more than half of the consumption (55%), from which one can come to the sad conclusion that it is possible to buy the "palenku" not only at some mysterious "points" where a person realizes In the degree of risk, but in ordinary stores or supermarkets under the guise of a perfectly legitimate product. How much is sold counterfeit alcohol in Ukraine, it is not known, but, apparently, very much - this is indicated by the huge number of mass poisonings, per year fake vodka kills 10 thousand people. This is the same in quantity, as in Russia, but in terms of per capita it is three and a half times more. By the way, Americans are poisoned to death by surrogates 1.5 times more often than Russians.

The social factor

Comparisons of sad statistics in different countries, and in particular dynamics of indicators, illustrate, of course, the dependence of the amount of alcohol consumed in general, the production of counterfeit products and the deaths of poisonings on the prosperity of the population. If the people are poor, they drink more, taking refuge in an illusory world and moving away from gloomy thoughts about the future. The average Ukrainian currently spends more than half of his income on food, the rest he almost has to give for utilities, often increasing the debt. Thinking about what to do next, most people have neither the strength nor the desire. It remains one thing - to buy cheap vodka, "self-made, but good," and for a while to change the attitude towards the cruel world around.

How to distinguish?

Producers of relatively expensive alcoholic beverages care about making it difficult to forge their products by setting different degrees of protection, both on banknotes. An important point is the price, and in this Russians have an advantage over Ukrainians - in Russia there are minimal retail values. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that every half-liter bottle in Ukraine accounts for 32 hryvnia taxes, excises and fees, which means that if it costs less than UAH 70, then this is exactly falsified.

Universal methods are guaranteed to avoid poisoning does not exist. Sell a "can of" can in the "naw", a bar and even an expensive restaurant.

As the well-known writer wrote, people, be vigilant!