The French government urged 30,000 women in France on Friday to seek removal of defective breast implants that a now-defunct company exported world-wide but it said there was no evidence that the product raised the risk of cancer. The government said public healthcare funds would be used to finance the removals, which were recommended because of the risk of ruptures that could cause inflammation and irritation, at a cost which health officials estimated at 60 million euros.
Around 30,000 women in France have had breast implants made by the company Poly Implant Prothese SA (PIP), which is accused of using industrial-grade silicone normally used in anything from computers to cookware. PIP, founded by one-time butcher Jean-Claude Mas, produced about 100,000 implants a year before its products were ordered off the market in early 2010.
As many as 300,000 women world-wide may have received PIP implants, which were exported to Latin American countries such as Brazil and Argentina, and Western European markets such as Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy. Britain said on Friday it was not following the French recommendation and played down any cancer risks.
France has had reports of eight cases of cancer in women with breast implants made by PIP, but health officials stressed at a news conference that the product was not suspected of increasing cancer risk. A health ministry statement said advice from medical experts showed that: "There is as of now no increased risk of cancer for women using implants of the PIP brand versus other implants".
The statement addressed to French women said new implants would be paid from public funds in cases where the initial implant was inserted for medical reasons, typically for reconstruction after breast cancer treatments. Associations representing women with PIP implants have been demanding that all replacements, including cases of implants that were purely cosmetic, be publicly funded.