No treat for sick kids

last updated 8 January 2015

Minsk, Belarus

Citing unwholesome foreign influences, Belarus may soon ban young Chernobyl victims from taking recuperative trips to German and Italian spas. Thousands of Belarusian teenagers have thyroid cancer or other health problems stemming from the radiation that rained down on Belarus after the 1987 explosion of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor in neighboring Ukraine. Each year, aid groups in Germany and Italy give the teens “health vacations” free of charge. “Don’t you see what children bring back from abroad?” Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka said this week. “They return infused with consumerism. We do not need such influences.”