Advice to remove breast implants
Source: Agencies |
December 24, 2011, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Tens of thousands of women with risky, French-made breast implants should have them removed at the state's expense, France's health minister recommended yesterday, in an unprecedented move that could have implications across Europe and South America.
Xavier Bertrand said the mass removals were "preventive" and not urgent, and French health officials said analyses so far have found no link between the pre-filled silicone gel implants and nine cases of cancer among women implanted with them.
But Bertrand, in a statement, cited an unusually high risk that the implants could rupture and leak a questionable type of silicone gel into the wearer's body.
Health authorities in Britain - where even more women have the implants than in France - said yesterday that for now they see no reason to take similar action.
Questions remain about the logistics and final costs of the removals. Francois Godineau, a top official in the French national health service, estimated it could deplete French government coffers by 60 million euros (US$78 million) at a time when the country is teetering on a brink of a new recession and struggling to tame state debt.
Investigators say the firm, Poly Implant Prothese, used cheaper industrial silicone for the implants instead of medical silicone to save money. The implants were pulled from the market last year and the firm is being liquidated.
"As a preventive measure not of an urgent nature, (French authorities) recommend that the removal of these implants, even those not showing signs of deterioration, be proposed," the statement said. It added the removal costs would be paid by France's national health care system - presumably solely for French patients.
One reason for the drastic measure is the uncertainty about the contents of the silicone gel used and the risks it poses to internal organs. Also, standard mammograms and ultrasounds do not always show that an implant has ruptured, and many women may be walking around unknowingly with burst implants.
Some 30,000 of women in France, and thousands more in Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal and other countries in Europe and South America have had implants made by PIP.
Xavier Bertrand said the mass removals were "preventive" and not urgent, and French health officials said analyses so far have found no link between the pre-filled silicone gel implants and nine cases of cancer among women implanted with them.
But Bertrand, in a statement, cited an unusually high risk that the implants could rupture and leak a questionable type of silicone gel into the wearer's body.
Health authorities in Britain - where even more women have the implants than in France - said yesterday that for now they see no reason to take similar action.
Questions remain about the logistics and final costs of the removals. Francois Godineau, a top official in the French national health service, estimated it could deplete French government coffers by 60 million euros (US$78 million) at a time when the country is teetering on a brink of a new recession and struggling to tame state debt.
Investigators say the firm, Poly Implant Prothese, used cheaper industrial silicone for the implants instead of medical silicone to save money. The implants were pulled from the market last year and the firm is being liquidated.
"As a preventive measure not of an urgent nature, (French authorities) recommend that the removal of these implants, even those not showing signs of deterioration, be proposed," the statement said. It added the removal costs would be paid by France's national health care system - presumably solely for French patients.
One reason for the drastic measure is the uncertainty about the contents of the silicone gel used and the risks it poses to internal organs. Also, standard mammograms and ultrasounds do not always show that an implant has ruptured, and many women may be walking around unknowingly with burst implants.
Some 30,000 of women in France, and thousands more in Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal and other countries in Europe and South America have had implants made by PIP.
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