As members of the international scientific community, we are greatly concerned about the AIDS Bill the State Duma adopted on November 11th, and more specifically, about art.9 which provides that HIV screening will be compulsory for all foreigners entering Russia.

This decision is in full contrast with the recommendations of the World Health Organization ( to which Russia belongs) and to the European Union directives. Furthermore, these measures are useless from the scientific point of view and are prejudicial to the rights of individuals.

On the contrary, financial resources, rather than being devoted to pointless and detrimental activities, should be allocated to those actions in the fields of prevention and assistance that are widely recognized as the only effective ones until a valid cure for AIDS is not found.

We sincerely hope the Russian Federation Council will overthrow, or at least amend, the AIDS Bill as adopted by the Duma, thus avoiding the implementation of a very questionable and noxious precedent.

Signatures