France to unveil breast implant removal decision Friday

French health authorities are to formally announce on Friday whether women with implants of Poly Implant Prosthese (PIP) must have them removed, media reported Thursday. More than 1,000 of the 30,000 such implants in France have burst, according to the French health safety agency AFSSAPS. Eight cases of cancer, mainly breast cancer, had so far been reported in patients with PIP implants, and a ninth patient in Gers died of cancer last year, according to France’s Director General for Health, Jean-Yves Grall. The French government has formed a special committee to look at the issue. More than 300,000 implants are believed to have been sold globally by PIP over the last 12 years. British health authorities said they see no reason so far to have the French-made implants systematically removed. There is not enough evidence of a link between silicone implants and cancer, they said, more generally that “women with any type of breast implant... who have questions about their breasts or think that their implants may have ruptured, should seek clinical advice from their implanting surgeon.” The UK's Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency said Tuesday it would “monitor for any associations of all types of breast implants, including PIP, with cancers and any other health implications.” According to a news release from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, PIP is now defunct. The implants in question were taken off the market last year after French authorities discovered the company “used non-medical grade silicone believed by the manufacturers to be made for mattresses.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided in March 2000 not to approve saline PIP implants in the United States.