The trial promises to be long. On November 24, 2015, the Clermont-Ferrand tribunal de grande instance began examining the 550 complaints in the Meningitec case. The case begins in September 2014, when doubt emerges. Syringes of the vaccine against meningitis C, Meningitec, could be contaminated with heavy metals, which poses a risk of poisoning to young children who are exposed to it. 21 lots are then withdrawn from sale. But the story does not end there : families file complaints, criticizing the CSP laboratory (Center Spécialités Pharmaceutiques), French distributor of Meningitec, located in Cournon-d’Auvergne (Puy-de-Dôme) for having delayed in withdrawing defective batches from sale despite warnings from the health authorities. Since then, the number of complaints has grown steadily. 32 families in July 2015, 240 in September then 550 currently, in November 2015. The trial opened on September 22, 2015before the Clermont-Ferrand tribunal de grande instance, but the president of the civil chamber then decided to postpone the hearings to allow the convening of four other laboratories (two Swiss, one German and one Dutch) also involved in the manufacture and marketing of these vaccines.
Heavy metal contamination
A large part of this trial will consist in establishing whether there was – or not – heavy metal contamination in children vaccinated with defective batches. These chemical elements (lead, mercury, cadmium …) could be at the origin of several unexplained and lasting symptoms such as fevers, diarrhea, vomiting, rash, irritability and sleeping troubles. The lawyer who takes care of the family file, Maître Emmanuel Ludot, will request a medical expertise for 250 children. In addition, the analysis of their hair should confirm or rule out the presence of these metals in their bodies.
Faced with the risk to the health of their children, families ask for redress but above all seek to understand: “We are waiting for a college of experts to be set up. Since four laboratories are named in this case, we hope to know who is at fault. We’re gonna have to prove there’s a mistake“said Coralie M., mother of a little girl who received a defective batch of this vaccine, to the newspaper West France. She created the collective “Agir tous ensemble”, at the origin of the summons to justice, and of a online petition, which, at present, already collects more than 77,300 signatures. This movement asks the Minister of Health Marisol Touraine to set up a crisis unit to respond to the concerns of parents.
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