France has launched a national investigation into the number of babies being born with missing arms or hands – weeks after an initial inquiry closed.
The first investigation began after it emerged more than a dozen children had been born with the condition in clusters in three French regions.
It ended after health authorities failed to identify a common cause.
But now another 11 cases have come to light, prompting health officials to open a fresh investigation.
The condition is a type of agenesis, where the upper limbs of a foetus fail to form correctly during pregnancy.
It includes entire missing upper limbs, missing forearms and hands, or fingers – but not unrelated medical conditions, such as missing thumbs.
The cases are clustered in the regions of Ain in the east of France, and in neighbouring regions Brittany and Loire-Atlantique, on the north-west coast.
