PARIS: Health officials in at least a half-dozen countries are grappling with the intense anxiety of tens of thousands of women who received breast implants that were made in France with substandard silicone - and that have been rupturing at unusually high rates.
It is unclear whether there are health risks posed by the substandard silicone used in the implants, and the French government is expected to decide soon whether to require as many as 30,000 women in France to have their implants removed.
It is unclear whether there are health risks posed by the substandard silicone used in the implants, and the French government is expected to decide soon whether to require as many as 30,000 women in France to have their implants removed.
If the government mandates the removals, it will also pay for the procedures, though not for replacements. Regulators will have to weigh whether the known risks associated with removing the implants outweigh uncertain risks and anxieties associated with leaving them in.
British health authorities sought to calm women's fears, saying that there was no evidence that the suspect implants, which were manufactured by Poly Implant Prothese , known as PIP, had caused cancer. They urged women with implants to take any concerns to their surgeons, but they also said, "There is currently no evidence to support routine removal" of the implants.
Silicone implants have had a contentious history, with the US imposing a 14-year moratorium on their use that ended in 2006, after years of lawsuits contending that they had caused cancer.
Concerns over implants caught the attention of European health officials after a woman whose implant had ruptured died last month from a rare cancer called anaplastic largecell lymphoma.
British health authorities sought to calm women's fears, saying that there was no evidence that the suspect implants, which were manufactured by Poly Implant Prothese , known as PIP, had caused cancer. They urged women with implants to take any concerns to their surgeons, but they also said, "There is currently no evidence to support routine removal" of the implants.
Silicone implants have had a contentious history, with the US imposing a 14-year moratorium on their use that ended in 2006, after years of lawsuits contending that they had caused cancer.
Concerns over implants caught the attention of European health officials after a woman whose implant had ruptured died last month from a rare cancer called anaplastic largecell lymphoma.
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