Reports of babies with limb defects

FRANCE has launched a nationwide investigation into why babies in some parts of the country have been born without hands or arms after several new cases were reported this week, the health minister said yesterday.

There have been 11 new reports of babies born with limb defects between 2000 and 2014 in the rural Ain department of eastern France, close to the border with Switzerland, where seven cases were reported between 2009 and 2014. There have also been four in the Morbihan area between 2011 and 2013, and three in neighbouring Loire-Atlantique in 2007 and 2008.

The reports have raised an alarm that some kind of toxin in food, water or air could be responsible. The first conclusion will be made public on January 31 and a full report is due before June. |