Politics and Poison Elections

Poison and politics. Surely poisonings happened centuries ago. But really, this is 2012, nothing like that happens anymore.

 

Viktor Yushchenko was the hope for the people. He was a young, dynamic, good looking candidate who was unafraid to take on the establishment. The year was 2004 in the Ukraine. Yushchenko was the informal leader of the “Orange Revolution”. In 2004 the independent rival candidate to the sitting President was prevented from taking his campaign to the airways by the government. His campaign was therefore built on face to face communication. Then the unthinkable happened. The people’s candidate became gravely ill in September 2004. Originally diagnosed with acute pancreatitis Yushchenko maintained from the beginning he was poisoned by government agents. When he returned to the campaign Yushchenko was badly disfigured. It was postulated that the changes in his face were consistent with chloracne secondary to dioxin poisoning. Subsequent lab testing showed Yushchenko had blood level of dioxin 6,000 times higher than normal. He was poisoned with TCDD dioxin. The delivery of the poison was linked to dinner between Yushchenko and a group of senior Ukrainian officials. The Lancet (August 2009) published a paper on the kinetics of TCDD in Yushchenko. His 2004 TCDD serum levels were 50,000-fold greater than those in the general population.

 

The poisoning theory has been argued both pro and con. Some say Yushchenko poisoned his lab samples, or even poisoned himself. Others say no, he was poisoned by the government in an effort to disfigure him so that he would no longer appeal to young voters. The argument still rages today.

 

As for Viktor Yushchenko, he won the election after a court ordered recount. He took office in January 2005 as the President of the Ukraine.