Bottles of nitrous oxide, used as laughing gas litter the ground during an operation to dismantle a drug trafficking network assisted by a sniffer dog in the Montaigue district of Melun on August 22, 2025. THIBAUD MORITZ/AFP
A French campaign group said Wednesday, April 22, it has sued companies selling nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, using what the activists alleged was "deceptive" marketing targeting young people, despite the health impacts.
The Antoine Alléno association, a road safety group headed by Michelin-starred chef Yannick Alléno, whose son was killed in 2022 by a speeding driver, said it had filed the legal action against the companies behind Cream Deluxe, which markets colorful canisters of the gas as the "key to an unforgettable evening." The suit will allow the group to "go after" those "using deceptive forms of communication aimed at young people," Alleno told Agence France-Presse (AFP). Nitrous oxide "has significant public-health impacts: young people lose the ability to move, there are burns and accidents," Alleno said.
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The silent and destructive spread of laughing gas: 'That shit took my whole life'
