France investigates non-certified hip replacements

About 650 people in France have been given prosthetic hips that do not have European safety certification, a health watchdog group said. Health officials say the non-certified hip prosthetics do not likely pose any health risks but the French agency for medicine safety, ANSM, has called for an investigation of the manufacturer, Ceraver, and confiscated about 1,000 of its artificial hips, Radio France Internationale reported Friday. Health officials have asked surgeons involved to perform checkups, including scans, on patients who received the non-certified hip prosthetics. Ceraver head Daniel Blanquaert acknowledged there were some irregularities in labeling the prosthetics but said adjustments made to the products were so minor they did not justify going through the whole certification process again. No problems with the artificial hips have been reported.