Russian Official Calls To Ban Children's Trips Abroad Over Swine Flu
Swine flu has been declared a pandemic
July 29, 2009
MOSCOW -- Russian Health Inspector General Gennady Onishchenko has called on the government to ban children from traveling abroad to protect the public from H1N1, or swine flu, RFE/RL's Russian Service reports.
Several schoolchildren from St. Petersburg were found to be H1N1 positive after they visited Britain this month.
However, Irina Tyurina, the press secretary of the Russian Union of Tourism Industry, told RFE/RL that the ban would not be possible from either a legal or a technical standpoint.
Pavel Krasheninnikov, the chairman of the Duma Committee on Legislation, told RFE/RL that such a ban would violate the Russian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of movement for all citizens.