An Abnormal Number of Babies Born without Arms or hand Worries

Around Druillat in Ain, between 2009 and 2014, seven babies were born without arms or without hands. An abnormal frequency of malformations that questions as much as it worries.

An Abnormal Number of Babies Born without Arms or hand Worries   

Spotted by France 2, a report of the malformation registry in the Rhône-Alpes (Remera) reports seven children with malformations, born without arms or without hand between 2009 and 2014, all within a 17-kilometer radius around Druillat (Ain ). Based on the number of births, this figure of malformations is 58 times higher than normal, according to the results of the survey conducted by Emmanuelle Amar, Epidemiologist and General Manager of Remera. 


"We interviewed all the mothers with a very extensive questionnaire on their lifestyle. The only common point is that all these women live in rural areas in the middle of fields, "reports the epidemiologist to France 2.

And this report is not new, since it was sent late 2014 to the health authorities. Two years later, Public Health France replied: "Given the nature of the problem detected and its societal repercussions, in terms of the fears of the populations concerned, increased vigilance seems necessary.  But this vigilance seems compromised, since the Remera no longer has public subsidies: "The consequences are very simple, it is the end of the monitoring of the malformations, that is to say clearly the end of the alert too, "regrets Emmanuelle Amar. The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, which co-financed Remera, considers that this is no longer part of its remit.

Note that parents in Brittany and Pays de la Loire have alerted the authorities about the birth of several children without arms in just a few months. But in the absence of records, difficult to quantify and conduct research on these disturbing figures. 

In a column published in the newspaper "Le Monde", the journalist Stéphane Foucart wonders about the political scope of this suppression of subsidies and considers that it could be a punitive measure against Emmanuelle Amar , a "whistleblower a bit too loud" ...