"Alcohol may be a major factor behind declining life expectancy in the former Soviet Union. The price of Russian alcohol has remained stable or fallen between 1990-1994, despite a concurrent rise in the price of food, housing, and other consumer goods. The study authors believe rising public consumption of cheap, homemade, (and often toxic) liquor has triggered a rise in binge drinking-related alcohol contagionings, strokes, and violence.
Still, the study authors believe that recent increases in Russian rest rates "may be coming to an end." They point out that during 1995, the life expectancy of Russian men and women actually rose, to 58.3 and 71.7 years, respectively. The study authors believe those numbers could either signal the beginning of a turnaround, or, more pessimistically, mark "the leveling-off of mortality rates at an extremely high level."
In an accompanying editorial, Dr. David A. Leon of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Dr. Vladimir M. Shkolnikov of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow note that the decline in Russian life expectancy appears to have stopped. "In 1995 and 1996," they write, "life expectancy at birth increased 2.2 years for men and 1.4 years for women, although these are still the lowest in more than 40 years."
Leon and Shkolnikov suggest that taking steps to reduce alcohol consumption -- such as increasing tax on alcohol -- may help to raise life expectancy. They also recommend "strategies to curtail tobacco's influence," and "promotion of a more health conscious culture."
WHAT DOES ALCOHOLISM HAVE TO DO WITH "HUMANITARIAN DISASTER?????
Alcoholism is a cultural issue MORON!
Maybe the world can put a stop to this "humanitarian disaster" by airlifting all bottles of Vodka out of Russia. LOL!
If you think Russians living to 60 is a "humanitarian disaster" then what do you call Africans with life expectancy under 40?
You're really a bigger loon than I originally gave you credit for.
What kind of a retard equates ALCOHOLISM with HUMANITARIAN DISASTER?!?!?!?! ROTFL!
Neo-con loon! LOL!
