Gouverner une crise sanitaire par le savoir et l’incertitude : le cas des agrégats de « bébés nés sans bras » en France

In the fall of 2018, France discovered, through the media, that unexplained grouped cases of babies born without arms existed in several places in the territory. What is more, after having investigated without finding a common cause for the aggregates, the health authorities declared that there was...

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Main Author: Florian Pedrot
Format: Article
Language:fra
Published: Association Anthropologie Médicale Appliquée au Développement et à la Santé 2021-03-01
Series:Anthropologie & Santé
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/anthropologiesante/9194
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author Florian Pedrot
author_facet Florian Pedrot
author_sort Florian Pedrot
collection DOAJ
description In the fall of 2018, France discovered, through the media, that unexplained grouped cases of babies born without arms existed in several places in the territory. What is more, after having investigated without finding a common cause for the aggregates, the health authorities declared that there was no point in continuing the research. All the ingredients for a health crisis were present, but it was not taken into account for a reason that had nothing to do with the small number of cases listed (fifteen) but which was rather due to the difficulties of establishing cause and effect relationships in the field of environmental health, to which this case belonged. This story shows a salient aspect of the contemporary government of health crises: the way in which the authorities put forward both the state of knowledge and the doubts as justifications for their action. This article is devoted to such a government of health crises in and through scientific knowledge and their share of uncertainty.
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publisher Association Anthropologie Médicale Appliquée au Développement et à la Santé
record_format Article
series Anthropologie & Santé
spelling doaj-art-bfa93af3e3ee40e693d9fbb3987021c02025-08-20T02:26:35ZfraAssociation Anthropologie Médicale Appliquée au Développement et à la SantéAnthropologie & Santé2111-50282021-03-012210.4000/anthropologiesante.9194Gouverner une crise sanitaire par le savoir et l’incertitude : le cas des agrégats de « bébés nés sans bras » en FranceFlorian PedrotIn the fall of 2018, France discovered, through the media, that unexplained grouped cases of babies born without arms existed in several places in the territory. What is more, after having investigated without finding a common cause for the aggregates, the health authorities declared that there was no point in continuing the research. All the ingredients for a health crisis were present, but it was not taken into account for a reason that had nothing to do with the small number of cases listed (fifteen) but which was rather due to the difficulties of establishing cause and effect relationships in the field of environmental health, to which this case belonged. This story shows a salient aspect of the contemporary government of health crises: the way in which the authorities put forward both the state of knowledge and the doubts as justifications for their action. This article is devoted to such a government of health crises in and through scientific knowledge and their share of uncertainty.https://journals.openedition.org/anthropologiesante/9194Francebirth defectscrisis governmentscience and uncertainty
spellingShingle Florian Pedrot
Gouverner une crise sanitaire par le savoir et l’incertitude : le cas des agrégats de « bébés nés sans bras » en France
Anthropologie & Santé
France
birth defects
crisis government
science and uncertainty
title Gouverner une crise sanitaire par le savoir et l’incertitude : le cas des agrégats de « bébés nés sans bras » en France
title_full Gouverner une crise sanitaire par le savoir et l’incertitude : le cas des agrégats de « bébés nés sans bras » en France
title_fullStr Gouverner une crise sanitaire par le savoir et l’incertitude : le cas des agrégats de « bébés nés sans bras » en France
title_full_unstemmed Gouverner une crise sanitaire par le savoir et l’incertitude : le cas des agrégats de « bébés nés sans bras » en France
title_short Gouverner une crise sanitaire par le savoir et l’incertitude : le cas des agrégats de « bébés nés sans bras » en France
title_sort gouverner une crise sanitaire par le savoir et l incertitude le cas des agregats de bebes nes sans bras en france
topic France
birth defects
crisis government
science and uncertainty
url https://journals.openedition.org/anthropologiesante/9194
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