FRANCE : *BABIES BORN WITH ARM DEFECTS * SPIKES

FRANCE investigates spike in babies born with arm defects.

France's health minister on Sunday announced a new investigation into the births of several babies with upper limb defects in various parts of the country in recent years, saying it was ''unacceptable'' no cause had been found.

Health Minister Agnes Buzyn said she and her environment counterpart  Francois de Rugy had decided to look more closely at what caused 14 babies to be born with stunted or missing arms since 2007, two weeks after health authorities said they had failed to find an explanation.

The cases have been concentrated in three French ''departments'' or administrative areas

Ain near the Swiss border, which had seven cases between 2009 and 2014, Brittany on the West coast which had four cases between 2011 and 2013, and Loire Atlantique, south of Brittany, which had three cases in 2007-2008.

Fewer than 150 babies  are born each year in France with upper limb defects, which occur when part of, or the entire arms,  fails to form completely during pregnancy.

While the cause of the  defects are unknown, research has shown that exposure of the mother to certain chemicals or medication during the pregnancy can increase the risk.

''We cannot content ourselves with saying we didn't find the case, that's unacceptable,'' she said.

In the 1950s and 1960s, thousands of babies around the world were born with missing or stunted limbs linked to the use of  the drug thalidomide, which was used to treat nausea in pregnant women.

It was banned in the 1960s.