Breast implant maker used non-approved gels: lawyer
The founder of the French firm that made breast implants feared to be at risk of rupturing has admitted using non-approved but non-toxic silicone gels, his lawyer said Tuesday.
Jean-Claude Mas's now-bankrupt company, Poly Implant Prosthese (PIP), was shut down and its products banned in April 2010 after it was revealed to have been using non-authorised silicone gel that caused abnormally high implant rupture rates.
Yves Haddad, a lawyer for the 72-year-old, said his client was at home in the south of France. Mas could not appear in public because of poor health and problems walking.
Haddad said Mas acknowledges using unapproved silicon gel, but is adamant it is safe.
"PIP knew it wasn't in compliance, but it wasn't a toxic product," the lawyer said, adding it "had not been proven" the implants were any more likely to leak.
PIP used two types of silicone in its implants, Haddad said. One of them was an approved gel made by American firm Nusil, but it also used a homemade gel that was five times cheaper for the cash-strapped PIP, which filed for bankruptcy in 2010.
Haddad said the gel was chemically identical to Nusil.
In 2000, a representative from the US Food and Drug Administration visited PIP, Haddad said. Following the visit, PIP products were banned in the US.
Documents obtained by AFP showed tens of thousands of women in more than 65 countries, mainly in South America and western Europe, received implants produced by PIP.
According to PIP's 2010 bankruptcy filing, it had exported 84 percent of its annual production of 100,000 implants.
France's health ministry has advised 30,000 women in France with PIP implants to have them removed, saying that while there is no proven cancer risk, the prostheses could rupture.
Any woman who declines the removal must have a breast scan every six months, the ministry added.
Prosecutors in Marseille, near PIP's home base of Seyne-sur-Mer, have received more than 2,000 complaints from Frenchwomen who received the implants, and have opened a criminal investigation into the firm.
Prosecutors have interviewed about 15 people in the case and a trial is expected next year for "aggravated deceit."
Mas was among the first to develop breast implants in France, initially producing saline-based prostheses, Haddad said.
(c) 2011 AFP
-
Women urged not to panic over breast implant scare
Dec 21, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Interpol seeks arrest of breast implant company founder
Dec 24, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
France advises 30,000 to have breast implants removed
Dec 23, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
France may order 30,000 women to remove implants
Dec 20, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Italy seeking women with French breast implants
Dec 22, 2011 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Motion perception revisited: High Phi effect challenges established motion perception assumptions
Apr 23, 2013 |
3 / 5 (2) |
2
-
Anything you can do I can do better: Neuromolecular foundations of the superiority illusion (Update)
Apr 02, 2013 |
4.5 / 5 (11) |
5
-
The visual system as economist: Neural resource allocation in visual adaptation
Mar 30, 2013 |
5 / 5 (2) |
9
-
Separate lives: Neuronal and organismal lifespans decoupled
Mar 27, 2013 |
4.9 / 5 (8) |
0
-
Sizing things up: The evolutionary neurobiology of scale invariance
Feb 28, 2013 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
14
-
Classical and Quantum Mechanics via Lie algebras
Apr 15, 2011
- More from Physics Forums - Independent Research
More news stories
Early use of tracheostomy for mechanically ventilated patients not associated with improved survival
For critically ill patients receiving mechanical ventilation, early tracheostomy (within the first 4 days after admission) was not associated with an improvement in the risk of death within 30 days compared to patients who ...
Other
8 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Decisions to forgo life support may depend heavily on the ICU where patients are treated
The decision to limit life support in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) appears to be significantly influenced by physician practices and/or the culture of the hospital, suggests new findings from researchers at the ...
Other
10 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
People on higher incomes are happier with new knees
Knee replacement surgery is a very common procedure. However, it does not always resolve function or pain in all the recipients of new knees. A study by Robert Barrack, MD and his colleagues from the Washington University ...
Other
12 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
New search engine finds rare diagnoses
Doctors are trained to think "common disease" when they meet patients in their practices, and as they rarely or never meet a rare disease, it often takes many years to reach the right diagnosis. A new search tool called FindZebra ...
Other
12 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
Delayed transfer to the ICU increases risk of death in hospital patients
Delayed transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU) in hospitalized patients significantly increases the risk of dying in the hospital, according to a new study from researchers in Chicago.
Other
14 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
If you can remember it, you can remember it wrong
(Medical Xpress)—Native peoples in regions where cameras are uncommon sometimes react with caution when their picture is taken. The fear that something must have been stolen from them to create the photo ...
B vitamins could delay dementia
(Medical Xpress)—Despite spending billions of dollars on research and development, drug companies have been unable to come up with effective treatments for dementia and Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Now, A. ...
New sleeping pill poised to hit US markets
An experimental sleeping pill from US drug company Merck is effective at helping people fall and stay asleep, according to reviewers at the US Food and Drug Administration, which could soon approve the new drug.
Reducing caloric intake delays nerve cell loss
Activating an enzyme known to play a role in the anti-aging benefits of calorie restriction delays the loss of brain cells and preserves cognitive function in mice, according to a study published in the May ...
Insight into the dazzling impact of insulin in cells
Australian scientists have charted the path of insulin action in cells in precise detail like never before. This provides a comprehensive blueprint for understanding what goes wrong in diabetes.
Antidepressant reduces stress-induced heart condition
A drug commonly used to treat depression and anxiety may improve a stress-related heart condition in people with stable coronary heart disease, according to researchers at Duke Medicine.