On selling and drinking alcohol

I was just reading the January issue of Harvard Business Review and there was an article discussing corporate philanthropy. There was a description of some alcohol company moving into some third-world country that had a similar problem with widespread consumption of harmful alcohol substances; they made alcohol cheap and readily available and it seems to be improving the quality of life there. I never would have thought of "bringing booze to poor people" as an act of philanthropy, but it totally makes sense from a harm reduction point of view.

You can buy the article here">[link] if you want it, I think it's the one on global collaboration, but it may have been the Transforming Giants article. There's no preview and I don't have the magazine anymore, sorry I can't be more certain. If someone really wants to know let me know and I'll look into it more.

"Various technical fluids" are for example radiator liquid or the liquid used for wiping wind-screen that prevents freezing (in the summer pure water could be used, but in the winter various alcoholic fluids are used - one kind for temperatures not lower than -22 C and one for extreme cold. In Poland such temperatures are very rare, but sometimes such fluids find its use, especially in the mountains. And I bet it sells well in Russia - for cars and for other purposes. ;)
And well - the number of alcohol poisoning deaths may have dropped, but it's still shocking what impact does the Soviet type of drinking have on the whole nation's health. You know - everywhere women live statistically slightly longer and the difference is more or less stable - almost everywhere between 4 and 8 years. In Western Europe the average may be somewhere around 80 years, in poor African countries, devastated by AIDS, it's around 45 or 50 years. Russia is almost the only country with such enormous difference: 73 years for women, 59!! for men. To me it's purely shocking. And alcohol is definitely the most important factor - all nation, women and men likewise, live in quite bad conditions when compared to Western Europe or North America, but mostly men drink heavily.
It's curious what reseaarch shows: a high percentage of Russians (and also many Poles, Ukrainians etc.) have a certain gene which allows their bodies to degrade alcohol onto harmless substances better than in people who lack this gene.
Anyway, this type of drinking has much to do with politics... it's long been said: it's easier to rule a drunk nation... :(