After two trials, the growth hormone scandal returns to court. The Paris Court of Appeal examines the civil liability of the last two living defendants.
Almost 30 years after the growth hormones scandal, the last two defendants still alive are sitting on the dock. From this Monday, the Paris Court of Appeal examines the civil liability of the former pediatrician Elisabeth Mugnier, 66 years old, and that of Professor Fernand Dray, 93 years old.
Between 1980 and 1986, nearly 1,700 children were treated with growth hormones potentially contaminated by the Creutzfeld-Jacob disease prion, commonly known as “mad cow disease”.
This medicine contained human pituitary powder. Dr Elisabeth Mugnier was in charge of recovering the pituitaries from cadavers, and the research laboratory of the Radio-Immunology Unit (URIA) at the Pasteur Institute, headed at the time by Professor Fernand Dray, manufactured the powder of pituitary gland. However, some of the samples were taken from corpses suffering from Creutzfeld-Jacob disease.
No culprit
A first complaint was filed in 1991. The first trial opened in 2008 and then the second in 2011 had led to an acquittal of the accused. The deaths of the 125 people treated with these potentially contaminated growth hormones will forever remain without culprit. And the surviving victims, who are under threat of developing the disease, feel that they have fought for nothing. Of the 118 civil parties present at the start of the fight, only 21 remain.
Last year, the Court of Cassation gave hope to these families of victims. For the highest French court, the preparation of the Uria laboratory is a drug. However, like any drug, only a pharmaceutical establishment can produce it, which was not the case with the unit headed by Professor Fernand Dray. It therefore ordered the opening of a new trial.
This third civil lawsuit will say if the two defendants owe compensation to the families of the 1,700 children treated with this drug. The court of appeal may order them to pay damages.
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