France orders fresh inquiry into babies’ limb defects

FRANCE’S health minister has ordered a fresh investigation into why 14 babies in rural areas were born missing limbs in recent years, saying it was “unacceptable” that previous investigations had not solved the mystery.

The announcement came two weeks after an inquiry by health authorities ended, with doctors saying they had failed to find out what had caused the babies to be born with stunted or missing arms since 2007.

“We cannot simply say that we didn’t find any causes, that is unacceptable,” Agnes Buzyn, the health minister, told RTL radio.

The cases were found in three different clusters – in the Ain department near the Swiss border, which had seven cases between 2009 and 2014, Brittany, which had four cases between 2011 and 2013, and Loire-atlantique, which had three cases in 2007-2008.

Ms Buzyn said the new inquiry would be led by her health ministry and the department of environment in order to combine medical and environmental expertise. Pesticides used by farmers were the most likely causes for the abnormalities, according to doctors at research organisation Remera, which monitors the incidence of birth defects in one French region.

But the state health agency Santé Publique France said earlier this month that it was ending its probe into the case and that the abnormalities were “probably down to chance”. It said it found no “common exposure” to substances that could explain them. The health agency said that although the number of cases in the Ain area was not above the national average, the numbers in Brittany and Loire-atlantique were statistically “excessive”.

The health minister said between 80 and 100 babies were born every year in France with stunted or missing limbs.

The causes of many birth defects are unknown, but research has shown that exposure of the mother to certain chemicals or medication during pregnancy can increase the risk.