Breast Implant Panic in France

Medical authorities in France are set to order 30,000 women to remove defective breast implants, amid fears of health risks.

Quoting senior medical officials, the daily said that before the end of the week authorities will ask all women who received implants supplied by the Poly Implant Proth�se (PIP) company to have them removed.

PIP was shut down and its product banned last year after it was revealed to have been using non-authorised silicone gel that caused abnormally high rupture rates of its implants.

Health officials said last week that eight cases of cancer, mainly breast cancer, had been reported in women who had received the PIP implants.

"It is urgent for all women who have PIP implants to return to see their surgeons," French government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse told Liberation.

Police have received 2,000 complaints from women who received the implants and have opened a criminal investigation into the firm.

Source: AFP