Many countries boast a national bird or national flower. Belarus has a national stench. "You know how it is when you step into one of those Soviet housing developments and that urine smell hits you at the stairwell?" asked Sergei Yuronovich, director of Belarus tourism. "Well, that's our national stench!"With the blessings of President Aleksandr Lukashenko (photo right), Belarus will carry its National Stench a step beyond simply celebrating it in tourism brochures: it will put the stench on its currency. "Although it has not been a simple task, we have worked hand in hand with Scratch-n-Sniff Technologies and the Denver Mint to enable the technology to be applied to money," said Yuronovich. "Imagine the joy of a tourist when he discovers he may take one unique part of Belarus home with him!" the spokesman added.
"We call it 'the stinky stairwell,'" said Denver Mint spokesman Ben Cartwright. "You scratch the money and it really does smell like a Soviet housing unit." Or so Cartwright thinks. He admitted that no one in the Denver Mint or with Scratch-n-Sniff Technologies had actually smelled a Soviet-era stairwell. "But President Lukashenko himself spent a full two months skiing at Beaver Creek and Vail and made himself generously available to test the money on two occasions," said Cartwright. "He's really a hands-on president."
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