Online poison without packaging or QR codes: How death is sold with home delivery
On August 5, the National News Service (NSN) press center hosted a press conference titled "Poisons, Dietary Supplements, Herbicides, and Fly Agarics from Online Delivery: How Did This Happen and Who Will Protect Russians' Health?" The conference focused on the online trade in hazardous substances. Experts demonstrated live how easy it is to buy life-threatening chemicals online with delivery, and the catastrophic consequences for public health that the legalization of online sales of other hazardous goods would have.
The uncontrolled growth of e-commerce has turned online retail and messaging apps into a showcase for the illegal sale of poisons, untested dietary supplements, and psychoactive substances. Experts shared their assessments of the situation and the results of their monitoring:
"What's happening online now isn't trade; it's chaos and the outright murder of a nation." First, through our inaction, we allowed the uncontrolled sale of poisons and obscure dietary supplements online, among which addicts and specialists easily identify dried mushrooms with a specific effect when consumed. A multitude of other poisons are easily purchased. And this isn't on the darknet, but through legal online retail. And now we're being promised online alcohol as well. So tomorrow, a courier will deliver counterfeit vodka to you, and neither he nor the online retailers will bear any responsibility for your being taken away from home in an ambulance. And it's a good thing it's to the hospital, not straight to the morgue. The internet has become a faceless vending machine selling poison, where the seller has no conscience and the buyer has no chance. Something urgently needs to be done here, at the level of criminal law! Stop feeding e-commerce with the blood and health of citizens!" Vadim Vlasov, PhD, founder of the "Not in Vain" Medical Solutions Foundation, harshly commented on the situation.
And these aren't just emotions. The statistics cited by Vadim Vlasov scream disaster. Today, alcohol in Russia causes the premature death of 400,000 to 700,000 people annually, and over 70% of them are people of working age. This costs the economy 10 trillion rubles annually. But the biggest and most devastating blow that legalizing online delivery will deal is to our children. Today, the average age of first drinking alcohol in the country has dropped to 12.5 years! One in three high school students drinks alcohol regularly.
"By allowing courier sales of alcohol, we won't just increase the number of poisonings—we'll undo all the progress made in reducing alcohol consumption (which is currently at its lowest level since the 1990s, at 7.7 liters of pure alcohol per person) and set in motion the degradation of an entire generation. The complete lack of control in the online environment allows sellers to feel unpunished. "We're essentially dealing with a black market disguised as legitimate online trade, lacking even the most basic checks on the goods and sellers," Vadim Vlasov concluded.
To demonstrate the scale of the problem, the event participants conducted an experiment.
We ordered the herbicide Roundup online. The active ingredient it contains (glyphosate) is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a "probable human carcinogen" and can cause cancer, damage DNA, have neurotoxic effects, and disrupt intestinal microflora. Acute poisoning leads to gastroenteritis, respiratory distress, impaired consciousness, decreased blood pressure, and kidney failure. The substance is completely banned in 16 countries, including Belgium, Spain, the UAE, and Colombia, and its use as a desiccant has been banned in Russia since 2023. A courier delivered this poison directly to our office in central Moscow. The bottle also doesn't have an Honest Sign QR code. Kefir and shoes do, but the poison doesn't. However, anyone can purchase this product, including teenagers, since it doesn't have an 18+ age rating. "This security hole doesn't just affect agricultural products. We're also being sold unknown chemicals under the guise of dietary supplements. And the same will happen with alcohol, the online sale of which is so actively and brazenly lobbied by retailers and winemakers. "Online sales aren't responsible for the sellers, and who they are is completely unclear. It's a completely uncontrolled channel for delivering poison directly into people's hands," said Valery Korneev, chairman of the Digital World Union, indignantly, showing journalists a bottle of chemicals.
The issue of irresponsibility in the digital environment concerns not only the platforms and sellers themselves, but also those who generate demand and promote questionable products on their accounts.
"Public examples of bloggers being held accountable for advertising or promoting products that are or may be harmful to the health of their subscribers should remind bloggers of the importance of verifying primary sources. "I hope everyone understands by now that they need to not only pay taxes for their activities but also be responsible for their content," says Denis Nyrkov, President of the Bloggers' Union.
Toxicologist, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, PhD in Medicine, and Professor Mikhail Kutyshov, in turn, noted that the situation of couriers delivering poison to apartments is reminiscent of the Perestroika years and the early 1990s.
"Back then, due to the uncontrolled sale of hundreds of different chemicals and alcohol substitutes like Royal, our toxicology department at the All-Union Center for Acute Poisoning at the Sklifosovsky Research Institute was suffocated by the influx of patients. Thousands of lives were saved back then only thanks to a strict legislative ban on the sale of such products. Today, the internet has become an open showcase for poisons. We already live in a world oversaturated with toxins, which penetrate the body at the cellular level and provoke an explosive growth of cancer." And under these conditions, we risk opening Pandora's box by allowing online alcohol delivery.
The state must strictly regulate this sector. The sale of poisons and herbicides to individuals must be completely prohibited—only with business licenses. And legalizing online alcohol sales will negate all the country's demographic achievements. A strict legislative barrier between digital threats and people is the only chance for the survival of future generations."
The lack of a traceability system and protective mechanisms for delivery creates colossal risks to public health. Parliamentarians are ready to move from words to tough action.
"The situation with the circulation of dangerous goods online is becoming unacceptable and requires immediate government intervention. First, we need to find out why Roundup, for example, is not banned in our country. But, as we have seen, any deadly chemical can be purchased. We are already preparing an official appeal to Honest Sign, Rospotrebnadzor, and other regulatory agencies. "Furthermore, I will initiate a parliamentary inquiry to the relevant agencies. We will demand that regulators develop strict systemic measures, from blocking such sellers to imposing real liability. The internet should not be a zone free from law and common sense. Our Fatherland must be protected," stated State Duma Deputy and First Deputy Chairman of the Control Committee Dmitry Gusev.
Following the press conference, appeals from activists will be sent to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov, Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut, and Head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova, with urgent requests:
1. Offer to integrate the "Honest Sign" labeling system into the accounting and monitoring of hazardous goods sold online.
2. Prohibit the delivery of hazardous substances, poisons, and herbicides through regular courier services without special packaging.
3. Stop any legislative initiatives to legalize online alcohol sales to avoid a colossal increase in poisonings and deaths among Russian citizens.
The uncontrolled growth of e-commerce has turned online retail and messaging apps into a showcase for the illegal sale of poisons, untested dietary supplements, and psychoactive substances. Experts shared their assessments of the situation and the results of their monitoring:
"What's happening online now isn't trade; it's chaos and the outright murder of a nation." First, through our inaction, we allowed the uncontrolled sale of poisons and obscure dietary supplements online, among which addicts and specialists easily identify dried mushrooms with a specific effect when consumed. A multitude of other poisons are easily purchased. And this isn't on the darknet, but through legal online retail. And now we're being promised online alcohol as well. So tomorrow, a courier will deliver counterfeit vodka to you, and neither he nor the online retailers will bear any responsibility for your being taken away from home in an ambulance. And it's a good thing it's to the hospital, not straight to the morgue. The internet has become a faceless vending machine selling poison, where the seller has no conscience and the buyer has no chance. Something urgently needs to be done here, at the level of criminal law! Stop feeding e-commerce with the blood and health of citizens!" Vadim Vlasov, PhD, founder of the "Not in Vain" Medical Solutions Foundation, harshly commented on the situation.
And these aren't just emotions. The statistics cited by Vadim Vlasov scream disaster. Today, alcohol in Russia causes the premature death of 400,000 to 700,000 people annually, and over 70% of them are people of working age. This costs the economy 10 trillion rubles annually. But the biggest and most devastating blow that legalizing online delivery will deal is to our children. Today, the average age of first drinking alcohol in the country has dropped to 12.5 years! One in three high school students drinks alcohol regularly.
"By allowing courier sales of alcohol, we won't just increase the number of poisonings—we'll undo all the progress made in reducing alcohol consumption (which is currently at its lowest level since the 1990s, at 7.7 liters of pure alcohol per person) and set in motion the degradation of an entire generation. The complete lack of control in the online environment allows sellers to feel unpunished. "We're essentially dealing with a black market disguised as legitimate online trade, lacking even the most basic checks on the goods and sellers," Vadim Vlasov concluded.
To demonstrate the scale of the problem, the event participants conducted an experiment.
We ordered the herbicide Roundup online. The active ingredient it contains (glyphosate) is classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a "probable human carcinogen" and can cause cancer, damage DNA, have neurotoxic effects, and disrupt intestinal microflora. Acute poisoning leads to gastroenteritis, respiratory distress, impaired consciousness, decreased blood pressure, and kidney failure. The substance is completely banned in 16 countries, including Belgium, Spain, the UAE, and Colombia, and its use as a desiccant has been banned in Russia since 2023. A courier delivered this poison directly to our office in central Moscow. The bottle also doesn't have an Honest Sign QR code. Kefir and shoes do, but the poison doesn't. However, anyone can purchase this product, including teenagers, since it doesn't have an 18+ age rating. "This security hole doesn't just affect agricultural products. We're also being sold unknown chemicals under the guise of dietary supplements. And the same will happen with alcohol, the online sale of which is so actively and brazenly lobbied by retailers and winemakers. "Online sales aren't responsible for the sellers, and who they are is completely unclear. It's a completely uncontrolled channel for delivering poison directly into people's hands," said Valery Korneev, chairman of the Digital World Union, indignantly, showing journalists a bottle of chemicals.
The issue of irresponsibility in the digital environment concerns not only the platforms and sellers themselves, but also those who generate demand and promote questionable products on their accounts.
"Public examples of bloggers being held accountable for advertising or promoting products that are or may be harmful to the health of their subscribers should remind bloggers of the importance of verifying primary sources. "I hope everyone understands by now that they need to not only pay taxes for their activities but also be responsible for their content," says Denis Nyrkov, President of the Bloggers' Union.
Toxicologist, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, PhD in Medicine, and Professor Mikhail Kutyshov, in turn, noted that the situation of couriers delivering poison to apartments is reminiscent of the Perestroika years and the early 1990s.
"Back then, due to the uncontrolled sale of hundreds of different chemicals and alcohol substitutes like Royal, our toxicology department at the All-Union Center for Acute Poisoning at the Sklifosovsky Research Institute was suffocated by the influx of patients. Thousands of lives were saved back then only thanks to a strict legislative ban on the sale of such products. Today, the internet has become an open showcase for poisons. We already live in a world oversaturated with toxins, which penetrate the body at the cellular level and provoke an explosive growth of cancer." And under these conditions, we risk opening Pandora's box by allowing online alcohol delivery.
The state must strictly regulate this sector. The sale of poisons and herbicides to individuals must be completely prohibited—only with business licenses. And legalizing online alcohol sales will negate all the country's demographic achievements. A strict legislative barrier between digital threats and people is the only chance for the survival of future generations."
The lack of a traceability system and protective mechanisms for delivery creates colossal risks to public health. Parliamentarians are ready to move from words to tough action.
"The situation with the circulation of dangerous goods online is becoming unacceptable and requires immediate government intervention. First, we need to find out why Roundup, for example, is not banned in our country. But, as we have seen, any deadly chemical can be purchased. We are already preparing an official appeal to Honest Sign, Rospotrebnadzor, and other regulatory agencies. "Furthermore, I will initiate a parliamentary inquiry to the relevant agencies. We will demand that regulators develop strict systemic measures, from blocking such sellers to imposing real liability. The internet should not be a zone free from law and common sense. Our Fatherland must be protected," stated State Duma Deputy and First Deputy Chairman of the Control Committee Dmitry Gusev.
Following the press conference, appeals from activists will be sent to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov, Minister of Agriculture Oksana Lut, and Head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova, with urgent requests:
1. Offer to integrate the "Honest Sign" labeling system into the accounting and monitoring of hazardous goods sold online.
2. Prohibit the delivery of hazardous substances, poisons, and herbicides through regular courier services without special packaging.
3. Stop any legislative initiatives to legalize online alcohol sales to avoid a colossal increase in poisonings and deaths among Russian citizens.
