Babies born without arms: an eighth case in the Ain raises the debate

The case is getting a little bigger each day. After the dismissal of the whistleblower Monday, finally suspended, the newspaper Le Monde reveals a new case identified "baby born without arms". The boy was born in 2012 of a family living in a 17-kilometer zone, in which the other cases of transverse agenesis of the upper limb (ATMS) were identified by the Register of cerebral malformations in Rhône-Alpes (Remera). There are now eight children born without arms, or without hands, in Ain, between 2009 and 2014.

Objective: to better identify cases

This eighth case was officially reported Monday to the regional health agency (ARS) and the agency Public Health France by the registry officials. "It was the mother who spontaneously contacted me late last week to ensure that her son had been counted in the seven cases identified in the area," said the director of Remera, Emmanuelle Amar, at World. But after verification, the name turned out to be unknown from the registry. "The child was born in 2012 and the place of residence is close to the heart of the cluster (case cluster)," she continued. Failure to report would be due to changes in administrative procedures related to the computerization of the hospital where the child was born, says the Remera.

This new case could in any case revive the debate. According to Remera, the number of cases in six years in this area is 50 times higher than normal, suggesting an exogenous cause for these malformations. On the other hand, Public Health France considers that the situation is not statistically abnormal. The next step for the Remera is to set up a case registration platform.

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