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Ukrainian Presidential Candidate Poisoned With Dioxin, Doctors Say; Prosecutors Resume Investigation
Doctors in Vienna believe that Ukrainian opposition presidential candidate Victor Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin, the Washington Post reported Sunday (see GSN, Oct. 8). Yushchenko, who fell ill in early September while campaigning, returned Friday to Austria for further tests at the private Rudolfinerhaus clinic, according to the Post. Yushchenko has claimed he was the victim of an assassination plot conducted by Ukrainian officials who supported Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych for president. Yushchenko’s long-term health prospects are good, though it could take years for the lesions on his face to heal, according to the Austrian doctors. “If this dose had been higher, it may have caused death,” said clinic director Michael Zimpfer, who said that the organic compounds could have been delivered through soup or other food. “The criminal investigation does not fit within our purview but … there is suspicion of third-party involvement” in the incident, Zimpfer said (Peter Finn, Washington Post, Dec. 12). The Ukrainian prosecutor-general’s office yesterday said that it would resume its investigation into the Yushchenko case, according to the Los Angeles Times. Prosecutors halted their work in October because there was then no information or forensic evidence indicating the candidate had been poisoned (David Holley, Los Angeles Times, Dec. 13). Paul Wax of the American College of Medical Toxicology said two scientists he met in Russia in 2002 told him that that Soviet Union had considered dioxin as a possible chemical weapon, according to the Washington Post. “We don’t think about it as an acute poison that can kill you,” said Wax, an Arizona physician who teaches courses on chemical terrorism. “It’s not going to cause someone to keel over on the battlefield” (Finn, Washington Post).
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