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Breast Implants That Do Not Meet Safety Standards Pulled In France
By Maria Cendejas and editing by Stacey Sexton
A French health insurance agency filed a criminal complaint in a breast implant scandal after authorities said that a woman with faulty implants had them removed, according to Time.
The agency filed the complaint for deception and fraud. It will likely not name a specific company behind the implants.
“It now appears pretty clear that these breast implants did not meet the specifications mandated for these products. That will surely have damaging consequences for the patient and there will be a significant cost for social security also. So in this context it’s normal and natural for us to file a complaint," the insurance agency’s director, Frederic Van Roekeghem told Feance Info radio.
The implants made by French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) were pulled last year in countries around Europe and South America.
A health safety agency of France says the implants appear to be more rupture-prone than other types of implants. This problem was observed by a Frenc doctor a few years ago.
An estimated 30,000 women in France with implants will get them removed after more than 1,000 ruptures. The estimated price for the removal would cost about 60 million euros ($78 million).
Health Minister Xavier Bertrand insisted the removals would be “preventative” and not urgent. French health authorities said they found nothing to link the implants to nine cases of cancer in women.
On Saturday, Bertrand said that those responsible for the implants must “answer for their acts.”
“They were looking to make money. That’s the worst thing, at the cost of women’s health,” he told Europe 1 radio.
After the decision in France, Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said they don't see enough proof of cancer or high risk of rupture to recommend that women in Britain have them removed.
Medical authorities in Brazil said it would be premature to recommend removal of the implants. Officials in Argentina and Venezuela are monitoring women who have the implants a bit closer.
PIP’s website said it sends its products to more than 60 countries and was one of the world’s leading implant makers, but its implants are not sold in the U.S.
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