Prosecutors in Lyon have opened a preliminary manslaughter investigation after a banned bed bug insecticide was found in the home of an elderly man who died, a judicial source told AFP on Tuesday.

Disinfection from bed bugsPhoto: Christophe Ena / AP / Profimedia

Also, according to the prosecutor’s office, the case also involves accusations of “endangering the lives of others” and “unauthorized sale of dangerous goods.”

The man, who was found unconscious in his home on October 29, was in possession of Sniper 1000 EC, a Chinese-made product used to kill bed bugs.

However, the sale of the product is banned in the European Union due to its “excessive toxicity”, a prosecutor told AFP.

On its hazardous product alert website, the government has been warning consumers about Sniper 1000 EC containers since November 8, asking them to stop using them.

The National Agency for Health Protection (ANSES) listed more than 1,000 cases of poisoning, sometimes serious, between 2007 and 2021 from insecticides used to control bed bugs.

The investigation is to establish the role that the use of Sniper 1000 EC may have played in the victim’s death and the distribution channel that allowed him to access the product. The Southern Directorate of Public Safety (DDSP) has been entrusted with the investigation.

France no longer knows what to do to combat bed bugs, with many homes infested with these microscopic insects and public transport also affected.

The French intelligence services even blamed the bedbug psychosis on Russia, which spread a lot of false information to maintain the fear of bedbugs in France and beyond.

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