PIP Implants have high risk of rupturing and leaking silicone into the body

By: Khristopher Reardon, Staff Writer

via The Telegraph

France’s health minister has recently recommended the removal of possibly hazardous breast implants using government funding. Minister Xavier Bertrand says the removals would be preventative even though they admit there is currently no concrete proof linking the faulty implants and cancer risks.

This is despite the reported cases of eight women with such implants who developed cancer.

Bertrand suggests that France pick up the tab on the removals, saying that the implants present a high risk to rupture and leak into the body.

“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,” said Bertrand in a statement.

The faulty implants were pulled from the markets around Europe and south America last year where they were being sold, but more than 1,000 ruptures have caused French Health officials to take the costly plunge, urging 30,000 women to have them removed.

The French State will only pay for new implant surgery if the original implant was a part of reconstructive surgery following breast cancer.

About 80 per cent of women who had received the implants cited aesthetic reasons.

Women who choose not to remove them will be provided with six monthly ultrasound scans.

It is believed about some 40,000 British women have obtained such risky implants as well, though the British government ruled out routine removal because there is no solid evidence linking the implants to health risks. The government is trying to defuse worry in the wake of this massive move by French Health Officials.

“While we respect the French government’s decision, no other country is taking similar steps because we currently have no evidence to support it,” said Sally Davies, Britain’s chief medical officer to the Huffington Post.

Around 25,000 women in Brazil also received the offending implants, but health officials in Brazil are following the same line as those in England, saying that it would be premature to call for removals of the implants. However, medical authorities in Argentine and Venezuela are suggesting that women who have received PIP implants be monitored closely.

Picking up the tab is going to cost France’s state health care system an estimated 60 million euros, roughly $78 million US.

These risky implants were made by the French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) and are not only more prone to rupturing, but also made with industrial grade silicone instead of medical grade silicone. Industrial silicone, generally intended for use in mattresses, was used in the implants to cut costs. The affects of this silicone on a person’s health remain unclear.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority says that France reported rupture rates of 5 per cent while the UK has a report rate of 1 per cent for people who have acquired the PIP implants.

Interpol listed Jean-Claude Mas, the 72 year-old founder of PIP, as wanted in connection to offenses concerning “life and health,” but the notice held no further details as to why Mas is wanted.

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