The Metz Court of Appeal has rejected a charge of foetal manslaughter in the case where a pregnant woman's baby died as a result of a road accident.

In October 2003, Florinda Bragança, aged 34, was killed on the motorway by a 29-year-old man who was driving against the traffic. She was 5 months pregnant and the baby also died.

In May 2004, the Thionville (Moselle) criminal court sentenced the driver to three years' imprisonment, two of which were suspended, for manslaughter through negligence but refused to recognise manslaughter in the case of the foetus (see press review of 27/05/04).

The victim's husband appealed, as did the public prosecutor's office. Madeleine Simoncello, counsel for the prosecution, claimed: "The issue of foetal manslaughter deserves to be debated. It is abnormal for a third party who causes the death of a foetus to remain unpunished. It is almost, I would say, a question of common sense."

In November 2004, Bertrand Becker, counsel for the plaintiff, argued in the Metz Court of Appeal that "the notion of the human person protected under criminal law is not linked to birth" and that "only a restrictive interpretation […] could assimilate the persons covered by the criminal law code to those who are born and separated from the mother".

For David Pawlik, counsel for the defence, "The issue of the foetus is covered by laws specific to the foetus, in this case the 1975 abortion law, which punishes abortion when it is not performed under the conditions provided by the law, but not involuntary abortion."

Following the Metz ruling, Bertrand Becker has indicated his intention to take the case to the French Supreme Court of Appeal. "My client nonetheless lost a wife and a child, Elias, whose heart he heard beating. He lost the little boy he so longed for, conceived after many years of artificial insemination attempts. Today he feels that, in the eyes of the court, none of that exists."

In the next few months, other similar cases will be tried in the courts.

In 2003, MP Jean-Paul Garraud tried unsuccessfully to have a bill passed making foetal manslaughter a crime in France.

Le Figaro (Laurence de Charette) 18/02/05 - Libération (Thomas Calinon) 18/02/05 - La Croix (Marianne Gomez) 18/02/05 - Le Quotidien du Médecin (Stéphanie Hasendahl) 18/02/05 - Le Monde 19/02/05

On Wednesday, 16 February, Philippe Douste-Blazy, French Minister of Health, and François d'Aubert, Minister of Research, signed decrees authorising human embryonic stem cells to be imported for research purposes.

The first authorisation was given to the team of Prof. Marc Peschanski, director of the neuroplasticity and therapeutics division at INSERM (French National Institute for Health and Medical Research). Ten other applications are currently being reviewed.

Prof. Philippe Menasché (Georges Pompidou European Hospital, Paris) is in charge of supervising and analysing all the scientific and medical results obtained from the use of human stem cells, be they of adult or embryonic origin.

Le Monde 18/02/05 - Le Figaro 19/02/05

A team of scientists in Michigan has succeeded in using gene therapy to produce new hearing cells capable of improving in hearing in guinea pigs.

Dr Yehoash Raphael who led the study explained: "We have proved […] that new hair cells can be generated and that they can contribute to improving hearing thresholds in deaf ears." "This is very promising for a future therapeutic approach," he commented. However, he added that further results would be required before clinical applications could be considered.

Auditory hair cells are not capable of renewing themselves. Once damaged, the resulting hearing decrease is permanent. No treatment currently exists to replace these damaged cells. This explains why this gene therapy represents a major advance in the search for new ways to treat deafness.

Le Quotidien du Médecin (Dr Véronique Nguyen) 16/02/05

On 4 February in Florence (Italy), the representatives of twenty regions in the European Union signed a "Charter of the Regions and Local Authorities of Europe on the Subject of the Coexistence of Genetically Modified Crops with Traditional and Organic Farming". Five French regions signed this charter: Aquitaine, Brittany, Ile de France, Limousin and Poitou Charentes.

This document is very critical of Brussels' policy. The signatories are worried that directive 2001/18, which governs the planting of GMOs in Europe, does not sufficiently protect traditional crops against "pollution" from genetically modified crops. The regions that have signed the charter agree to "provide for the protection of traditional and organic farming against GMOs planted over large areas and over regions as a whole" and have requested the GMO Commission in Brussels to set up "a sanction system" for those responsible for GM contamination.

This regional movement arose due to stalling by member states in setting up coexistence regulations.

Brittany signed a "cooperation agreement" with the state of Parana (South Brazil) on 31 August 2004 to encourage it to remain GM-free. Argentina and Brazil have invested heavily in genetically modified crops, particular soya, which is exported to France and Europe in the form of soya oil cakes to feed cattle and poultry. For Brittany, it is essential to retain GM-free suppliers. Today, nearly 25% of the 4.5 million tons of soya imported into France are guaranteed GM-free.

 Le Monde (Hervé Kempf) 15/02/05

In Germany, three people were infected with rabies after receiving transplants. The organs came from a 26-year-old donor who had spent last autumn in India where she contracted the virus. She died of a heart attack before the disease developed and as a result, it was not identified. Three other patients also received organs from this woman but remain in good health.

Le Figaro 18/02/05 - Le Quotidien du Médecin 21/02/05