Mystery of the babies without hands linked to Monsanto

A huge scandal is brewing up in France after several reports concerning the unusually large number of babies born with nearly identical birth defects in three small rural areas.
‘The mystery of the babies without hands’ concerns a small number of children, 14 in all, but the problem is those children were born in a small area, which has prompted experts to talk about clusters of birth defects well above the national average. For instance, there were seven children born without hands in the Ain region, in a 20 kilometers wide area, the number being 58 times the national average. In the village of Mouzeil, there were three such babies born within an year of each other. Another cluster in another small village, Guidel, with four such cases between 2011-2013. There are also reports of birth defects in the animal population in the respective areas.

Ryan, 8yo, born without the right hand in Ain

So far, research in the matter came up with nothing linking the cases - no genetic abnormalities, no history of drug use for the mothers, no identical medication. The only glaring similarity is the fact that all three villages are isolated, surrounded by fields of corn and sunflowers, so the women have been regularly exposed to pesticides before and during the pregnancies. It is well known that French farmers rely heavily on Monsanto’s Roundup. Prime minister Emmanuel Macron has promised to ban glyphosate by 2021, but this is not likely to happen since the Parliament refused to enact a ban on the pesticide.

Although yesterday the government has promised a second high-level inquiry, there are already suspicions of a cover-up in the making, after the expert who raised the alarm and spoke of an environmental cause has been fired from her position of head of the regional birth defects registry (Remera) for the Rhone-Alpes region, which includes the village of Ain.

Leo, 7yo, born without the left hand in Guidel

In its first report, the Health Department has for itself refuted the claims that the unusually high number of babies with birth defects has anything to do with pesticides, attributing the cause to…chance.
‘The probability that this situation is due to chance is less than infinitesimal. Most likely we’re looking at a sanitary scandal’, says Emmanuelle Amar, head of Remera. Not only was she sacked, but there are also talks the birth defects monitoring body will be closed, due to funding issues.
The scandal is all over the media so French authorities will have a hard time trying to cover up the scandal of the babies without hands.
France is not the only country where glyphosate has been blame for birth defects, not to mention the health issues plaguing farmers. In Brazil, reports have linked a high number of genital abnormalities in boys. In Argentina, as well,there is high number of babies born with severe birth defects - a heart-breaking collection of images of children suffering the effects of glyphosate can be found here.In all cases, the mothers were exposed to pesticides during their pregnancies.

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Images: 1, 2.