In the 2004 Ukraine Presidential Election, Viktor Yushchennko, the candidate favored to win, suddenly fell ill. An
article in the New York Times discusses his illness, which started as a brief hospitalization due to abdominal pains. After awhile he began to get back pains so severe he needed to have an IV during the election campaigns. Doctors were unsure for awhile what could have been causing the illness. Poising was suspected but from what source was unknown until the chloracne began to appear on his face. Once this was observed it was determined that he suffered from dioxin poisoning and his body had dioxin levels more than a thousand times the limit. This indicated that he must have ingested it, and thus it was suspected that he was purposefully poisoned. It is still not known who poisoned him, but he survived the attack and won the presidential election.
This is an interesting take on the dangers of toxic pesticides. Since dioxin is fat-soluble and thus released during times of physical stress, I wonder what roll his presidential campaign had in his poisoning. Perhaps the effects would not have been as severe if he wasn't in such a stressful situation!
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