Lyon (AFP)

Four former carriers of the contraceptive device Essure, responsible according to them for multiple pathologies, announced Monday to the press wanting to "act against the State", demanding in particular an independent study and compensation.

"The victims today prove the toxic nature of Essure implants and they act against the state because this toxicity could have and should have been detected before the marketing of these devices," said their lawyer, Stephen Duval. , denouncing a "deep deficiency of the State in its mission of control and health police".

The four women and their lawyer sent a request "past weekend" to the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn so that she "recognizes the fault of the state" and that she "compensates them", added Me Duval. Without a response from the Minister within two months, proceedings will be brought before the administrative court.

The four patients performed, at their expense, at the Minapath laboratory based in Villeurbanne, near Lyon, analyzes which "prove the toxicity of the implants". "It is probably the solder which is in question, it undergoes a strong erosion by releasing in the tubes harmful particles to the row of which tin", specified the lawyer.

These analyzes are "consistent with the data from preclinical studies carried out in the early 2000s", denounced the lawyer.

One of the complainants, Françoise Vanmuysen, a surgeon by profession, asked the Ministry of Health for the victims, in particular "an adapted and independent research protocol", "somatic care (...) and psychological support ", as well as compensation.

"We have just understood that we are poisoned for life, we have been guinea pigs for implantation, guinea pigs for explantation and guinea pig for the rest of our life", lambasted another victim, Anne-Cécile Groleas, considering his life as "broken".

"Despite a total hysterectomy, I still have pain and memory loss that do not go away and I find myself without resources," she said.

In April, around thirty patients filed a criminal complaint after undesirable effects of this contraceptive device, which Bayer ceased marketing in Europe in 2017. The Marseille health center divested in favor of the Paris public health center , where the complaints are "under analysis", according to the prosecution.

Marketed in France in 2002, the device was placed under enhanced surveillance in 2015 by the ANSM.

In this case, the laboratory has also been targeted since 2017 by a civil group action bringing together several hundred patients.

According to Me Duval, around 200,000 women in France have been implanted with Essure.

© 2020 AFP