France’s Mexico flights ban proposal rejected by EU

A meeting of the Health Ministers of the European Union (EU) has rejected a proposal by France to stop flights to and from Mexico, the country which has been hit by swine flu. Roselyne Bachelot, French Minister for Health, told reporters after an emergency meeting of the EU in Luxembourg that “there was little support among France’s EU partners for halting flights to Mexico.”

The meeting of the Health Ministers of the EU, convened to coordinate measures among EU’s member-countries, discussed ways to contain the swine flu, but, at the same time, warned people against panicking over the spread of the disease.

Many member-states of the European Union have already warned travellers to avoid “unnecessary trips” to Mexico and parts of the United States where outbreaks of swine flu have been confirmed.

Countries like Germany and Spain had opposed the idea of stopping flights to Mexico saying that the step was “too drastic and having little value since the outbreak of swine flu had already spread far beyond Mexico and to four continents.”

The outbreak of swine flu was first detected in Mexico. Latest reports say that about 85 people have died of the disease and over 90 others have been infected in Mexico.

In a statement issued after the meeting of the European Union Health Ministers in Luxembourg, Italy asked its citizens returning from Mexico to quarantine themselves at home for a period of 7 days.

Health Ministers of the European Union also rejected a proposal by Italy urging that member-countries set up a “drug bank of flu remedies and vaccines.”

Many other members of the European Union were of the opinion that it was up to each member-nation to decide on how best to deal with health problems.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that it would stop using the term ‘swine flu’ in order to “avoid confusion over the danger posed by pigs.”

A spokesman of WHO said that name of the disease was changed after the agriculture industry and the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation expressed concerns that the term ‘swine flu’ was “misleading consumers and needlessly causing countries to order the slaughter of pigs.”

The World Health Organisation will henceforth refer to the new influenza virus as influenza A (H1N1).