Destruction of contraceptives: France has "no means" of "requisitioning stocks"

France assured on Friday that it had "no means to requisition" the stocks of female contraceptives that the American administration wants to destroy at a time when calls are growing to prevent the implementation of this "insane" decision.

"On the French side, we have examined the means of action available to us but unfortunately, there is no legal basis allowing intervention by a European health authority and a fortiori by the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM) to recover these medical devices," indicated the Ministry of Health, contacted by AFP.

"Since contraceptives are not drugs of major therapeutic interest (MITM) and in this case we are not in the context of a supply tension, we have no means of requisitioning stocks," the same source added.

The ministry said it had no information on where these contraceptives were to be incinerated, as some English-language media outlets had reported that they were planned to be destroyed in France.

The US administration, engaged in drastic cuts to its humanitarian aid and an anti-abortion policy, confirmed in mid-July that it intended to destroy female contraceptives, mainly implants and IUDs, stored in a warehouse in Belgium.

These products, which were intended for women living in particular in sub-Saharan Africa, came from contracts with USAID, the American Agency for International Development, signed under President Joe Biden.

According to several media outlets, these contraceptives, reportedly worth nearly $10 million, were to be incinerated "at the end of July" in France by a company specializing in the destruction of medical waste. However, AFP has not yet been able to confirm this information from an official source.

"We have been informed that these boxes of contraceptives are beginning to be cleared, but we don't know where the trucks are or if they have arrived in France," Sarah Durocher, president of the Family Planning Association, told AFP on Thursday. "We call on all incineration companies to oppose this senseless decision."

"I don't see who in France would accept this happening," Green Party leader Marine Tondelier told BFMTV-RMC. "We absolutely have to know where it's going to be incinerated."

Several international organizations working on the issue of contraception have indicated that they have unsuccessfully proposed to the American administration to purchase and repackage stocks of contraceptives.

Belgium announced that it had initiated diplomatic approaches with the American authorities and said it was exploring all "possible avenues to avoid the destruction of these products" .