Original Article in French- Linked Here
Translated To English Below
IN FRANCE – 300 people with Lyme disease will file criminal complaints in early January 2018 against the State, the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) and the National Reference Center (CNR) in Strasbourg for influence peddling, abuse of company or government assets, concealment of abuse of government or company assets, endangering the lives of others, violation of the principle of independence of experts and conflict of interests.
This complaint aims in particular "to uncover the links of interests maintained between the National Reference Center of Strasbourg and the laboratories". The complainants believe that screening tests are unreliable.
The director of the CNR, is an expert mandated by the State and the ANSM, who also collaborates with the laboratories that manufacture these tests and participates in the validation committees of the tests. He may be charged with criminal offense, influence peddling, corruption and misuse of corporate assets.
The plaintiffs also target the State and the ANSM for endangering the lives of others and manslaughter (patient suicides) and also lack of vigilance in the choice of experts and the quality of tests.
According to one of the plaintiffs' lawyers, by imposing a single testing technique, a single screening protocol and favoring a certain number of laboratories, the health authorities "did not play their role of supervisory or regulatory authority, but actually became employees of the pharmaceutical industry."
Today there are tens of thousands of patients who have not been diagnosed and many of them are in absolutely catastrophic medical, material and moral situations.
The lawyers claim the responsibility of the actors of public health, but also $611,345.00 of damages per patient.
"Absurd" tests: Today, the Elisa test is used to find out if a patient has Lyme disease. Elisa is the only test that exists in France to detect the disease. If it is negative, the exams stop there for the patient. If it is positive, the doctors give a second test to the patient, much more precise, the Western Blot.
Except that the first test detects only 3 to 5 different bacteria that can cause Lyme, whereas in reality, there are more than ten. To find out if they have Lyme or not, some patients have to go to veterinary tests, much more accurate, or go to other countries like Germany, where the tests are more advanced.
Some doctors do not stop at the negative test and continue to see patients to determine if they have Lyme or not, but they are then sued by the College of Physicians and Health Insurance for ‘non-compliance’. The lawyers therefore ask for the withdrawal of these tests that they consider "absurd".