It is a public health issue. In February 2022, faced with Philips' stubbornness to use a possibly carcinogenic foam to equip its respirators against sleep apnea, despite several alerts, the National Medicines Safety Agency forced the American manufacturer to replace its thousands of devices concerned, via a health policy decision. But a year later, nothing has changed. The ANSM has therefore decided to take legal action, as revealed by our colleagues from France Info.
The referral is based on Article 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which requires any public authority to seize the prosecutor as soon as it becomes aware of a crime or misdemeanor. According to the prosecution, quoted by France Info, this report concerns the "compliance of medical equipment put into circulation with the essential requirements". A preliminary investigation was opened last September.
At the same time, nearly 500 users of these potentially carcinogenic devices have seized a lawyer, Maître Christophe Lèguevaques, who hopes that the complaint will lead to the appointment of an investigating judge "to carry out an in-depth investigation through expertise and cooperation international nature made necessary by the global nature of this case which concerns 5 million devices".
