Saturday, December 24, 2011

French breast implants spark cancer fears

PARIS - Fears over the safety of breast implants made by a now defunct French firm spread to Australia, South America and across Europe yesterday as French officials prepared to decide if thousands of women should have their implants surgically removed.

The silicone gel implants, made by a company called Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) that was shut down last year, appear to have an unusually high rupture rate and have sparked an investigation in France into possible links to cancer.

About 300,000 PIP implants, used in cosmetic surgery to enhance breast size or replace lost breast tissue, were sold worldwide before PIP went bust last year.

An investigation into PIP found it was using a type of silicone not approved by health authorities but about 10 times cheaper. The industrial-grade silicone PIP is accused of using is an ingredient in anything from computers to cookware.

Ms Amanda Harrison, a British woman seeking compensation, said she was disgusted by PIP's actions. "It's sick that they could even think about putting this stuff into a human. You wouldn't even put it in an animal."

"It's not just France that's concerned. We're looking at 300,000 to 400,000 potential victims in the world," said Ms Alexandra Blachere, leader of a French PIP implant patient group. She said women from Italy and Spain were in touch with her with worries about their implants and she had seen reports of problems in Venezuela, Brazil and elsewhere.

No one linked to the defunct company was immediately available to comment.

Founded in 1991, PIP was based in southern France and for a while ranked as the world's No 3 maker of implants, supplying about 100,000 a year, of which about 80 per cent were exported abroad. Health authorities around the world said they were watching closely for the results of an inquiry by France's National Cancer Institute into whether the implants might be linked to cancer. France has had reports of eight cases of cancer in women with breast implants made by PIP. REUTERS

Source: http://www.todayonline.com/World/EDC111223-0000104/French-breast-implants-spark-cancer-fears

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