SICK children of the Chernobyl disaster have been told they cannot come to Manchester because they will be corrupted by Western influences.

The President of Belarus has ruled that cancer victims of the nuclear tragedy will be "contaminated by consumerism" if they travel to Britain to recuperate.

The Chernobyl Children's Project has brought more than 4,000 children on holiday to Britain in a bid to help relieve their suffering from cancer and other conditions linked to the disaster since the charity was formed in Manchester in 1995.

Doctors have said the life expectancy of seriously ill children brought over can be extended by up to two years because of the fresh air and cleaner environment here.

But President Alexander Lukashenko, an old-style Soviet ruler, issued an order last month banning the sending of sick children for holidays abroad because he said they were being corrupted by the West.

He said: "Can't you see what our children are like when they come back? What do we get from that style of life?

"We have already developed a consumerist mode of living which has swept over the youth and country. Those little ones come back as so called double consumers. We need no such upbringing."

Belarus was part of the old Soviet Union when up to 70 per cent of the radioactive material was carried there on the wind from neighbouring Ukraine after the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

The charity, which has hundreds of host families in Glossop, Buxton, Lancaster, Crew and in Yorkshire, is now lobbying the government of Belarus for a change of heart.

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Stuart Carmichael, from Rochdale, co-ordinator for the West Pennine branch of the project, which is still planning to bring across another dozen children in the summer, said: "It gets them out of the radioactive pollution in Belarus and gives them fresh air, good food and a really good holiday.

"We try not to buy them expensive presents or clothes. The main reason seems to be that he doesn't want them to see what life is like here.

"He's an un-reconstructed Communist, really. We are still going ahead with our plans. We've seen the benefits of children coming over and it's not just the physical benefits. It's their mental health that benefits as well.

"They become more optimistic. They see what life can be like for them. Life can be a great drudgery over there, especially in the villages.

"They have a wonderful education system and an extremely good health system and I would be quite happy to use them. But the children, if they see no improvement in their lifestyle, can become disheartened."

Linda Walker, from Glossop, the national co-ordinator for the charity, said: "We hope that the president will change his mind and allow children to continue to take recuperative holidays abroad.

"These holidays give a great boost to their immune systems and help them to stay healthy or recover from serious illness."

However, any hopes of a reversal were scotched by the Belarus embassy.

The ambassador, Dr Alyaksei Mazhukhou, said: "It is time to put an end to speculations and get down to finding a long-term solution to the Chernobyl problem which lies only where the problem belongs: in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. And those dealing with the area in question are perfectly aware of that."

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