Vladimir Putin orders clampdown on "surrogate" alcohol as deaths rise

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has ordered the government to crack down on so-called surrogate alcohol, as the death toll from consumption of a fake batch of bath tincture exceeded 60.

Putin on Wednesday demanded new regulations be put in place to tighten controls over the production and sale of liquids including perfume, cleaning fluids, medicines and cosmetics that contain more than 25% alcohol. He also told the government to look at increasing the legal consequences for violations in the production and sale of these items.

The death toll in the Siberian city of Irkutsk over recent days has now reached 62. Investigators on Monday said they had discovered an underground laboratory in the city making fake boyaryshnik, a tincture supposedly meant to be added to baths for relaxation. The fluid, which normally contains 93% ethanol, as well as hawthorn extract and lemon oil, is widely drunk in Russia as a cheap substitute for alcohol.

However, police found that the batch in Irkutsk contained methanol, a poisonous substance found in antifreeze, instead of ethanol. Local authorities declared a state of emergency in Irkutsk on Monday, and across the wider region on Tuesday. Police seized thousands of bottles of the liquid from shops and kiosks across the region, and authorities ordered a temporary ban on the sale of all fluids containing alcohol.

Twelve people have been arrested for distributing the fake batch, and courts in Irkutsk remanded them in custody on Wednesday.

According to Irkutsk region’s ministry of health, 107 people have been poisoned by the batch of fake boyaryshnik, with 62 dead so far. Around half of them died in hospital, while others were already dead on arrival. There are still 36 people in hospital. Four people have been released having made what local doctors called a “miracle recovery”.

There are two main problems in Russia’s surrogate alcohol market: first is the widespread consumption of items marked as perfumes or bath tinctures. They are exempt from sales restrictions and taxes that normal alcoholic drinks would carry but are often sold at drinks kiosks where it is obvious people would purchase them for consumption. In one Russian region, automated street machines selling Boyaryshnik were installed earlier this year.

The second problem is fake alcohol: there have been numerous cases of underground factories making cheap vodka or whisky and attaching fake labels to the bottles.

In Irkutsk, both problems combined to lethal effect, as dozens died from ingesting a tainted version of something that was in any case not designed as a drink.

The Irkutsk tragedy is an extreme example, but deaths from drinking low-quality alcohol are common. Russia’s consumer watchdog said that during the first nine months of 2016, 9,300 Russians died from alcohol poisoning. Of these, 1,200 had died from methanol poisoning, the watchdog said.

Vladimir Putin orders clampdown on "surrogate" alcohol as deaths rise

DIY surrogate pregnancy deal ends in court battle

The desperate girl has been refused recognition as the boy’s legal mother but was granted a residency order to care for the little one in court on Tuesday with the judge warning against any person considering an informal surrogacy agreement, rather than by way of a professional company.

Mrs Justice Eleanor King explained medics speedily spotted that one thing was amiss when the surrogate mom booked herself in at the Leicester Royal Infirmary to give birth.

Medical professionals insisted on seeing a formal surrogacy agreement and the couple went to solicitors, who the judge said had unwittingly committed a criminal offence when they charged for drafting 1 in breach of Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985.

The couple’s connection broke down quickly soon after the birth and more legal blunder occurred as they delayed past a 6-month time restrict just before in search of court recognition of the woman’s parenthood.

The judge said the time limit was necessary and making a parental order in the woman’s favour was for that reason just “not an choice.”

Making it possible for her to formally adopt the child was also no remedy and the woman had been left in a position of acute vulnerability, with no legal rights more than the boy she considered her son.

The judge stated social staff and lawyers had “worked hard to discover some kind of solution” to the problem.

And, “after a number of years of bitter recriminations and a total inability to pull with each other for the sake of this significantly wished child”, the couple had finally been capable to set aside their grievances and place in spot wise and practical shared care arrangements.

Whilst the girl could never turn into the boy’s legal mom, Mrs Justice King mentioned there had been measures that could be taken to “provide her with protection and recognition of her status.”

The surrogate mother, nevertheless a close family members good friend, had parental duty for the boy, who she noticed frequently, but there was “no quick purpose to believe” that she would use her electrical power in excess of the child inappropriately.

The judge directed the tiny boy should remain a ward of court indefinitely and manufactured a shared residence purchase in favour of the former couple, effectively granting the woman parental responsibility for the kid.

The surrogate mom was banned from exercising her parental rights without permission from the court.

Although there was nothing a lot more that could be accomplished to regularise the woman’s position, the judge explained the small boy “can now search forward to a secure and satisfied long term with his care being shared between the two people he does and will carry on to regard as his parents”.

Describing the case as a “cautionary tale”, Mrs Justice King underlined the “real dangers” of unlawful private surrogacy agreements and urged couples to use licensed and regulated fertility clinics if they need to have help with conception.

DIY surrogate pregnancy deal ends in court battle