الرئيسية
France's health ministry Friday advised 30,000 women with breast
implants made by French firm PIP to have them removed, saying that while
there is no proven cancer risk the prostheses could rupture.
The
government stressed there was no urgency but the advice will add to the
concern of tens of thousands of other women around the world who have
the same implants made from industrial rather than medical quality
silicone.
Global police agency Interpol, meanwhile, issued a "red
notice" seeking the arrest of Frenchman Jean-Claude Mas, the founder of
PIP (Poly Implant Prosthese).
Women with PIP implants "do not have
a higher risk of cancer than women who have implants manufactured by
other firms," a health ministry statement said, but there were
"well-established risks of ruptures."
French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand called for their removal as a "precautionary measure".
State-supported
medical insurance will pay for the implants' removal, but only women
who received the implants as part of reconstructive surgery, rather than
for aesthetic reasons, will have new implants paid for.
The total cost for social security is estimated at around 60 million euros ($78 million).
The
French government advised women with PIP implants to contact their
doctor and "a precautionary removal will be offered, even without
clinical signs of deterioration of the implant."
Any woman who declines the removal must have a breast scan every six months, the ministry added.
The
now-bankrupt PIP was shut down and its products banned in April last
year after it was revealed to have been using non-authorised silicone
gel that caused abnormally high implant rupture rates.
Facing
financial difficulties, the company, once the world's third-largest
producer of silicone implants, had replaced the medical-grade silicone
in its implants with industrial-strength material.
Documents
obtained by AFP showed that tens of thousands of women in more than 65
countries, mainly in South America and western Europe, received implants
produced by PIP.
In Britain, where 42,000 women have PIP
implants, authorities said the prostheses posed no notable risk, while
elsewhere in Europe authorities called for the implants to be dealt with
on a case-by-case basis.
"While we respect the French
government's decision, no other country is taking similar steps because
we currently have no evidence to support it," said Britain's Chief
Medical Officer Sally Davies.
Germany's BFARM health agency
recommended women be evaluated by doctors, while only Belgium echoed the
call for preventive removals.
"We've discussed the possibility of
a cancer risk a lot recently and there's no proof," BFARM agency
spokesman Maik Pommer said, with 19 cases of ruptured implants in
Germany since 2004.
Switzerland's health agency said it did not recommend removal of the implants for some 280 Swiss women concerned.
implants made by French firm PIP to have them removed, saying that while
there is no proven cancer risk the prostheses could rupture.
The
government stressed there was no urgency but the advice will add to the
concern of tens of thousands of other women around the world who have
the same implants made from industrial rather than medical quality
silicone.
Global police agency Interpol, meanwhile, issued a "red
notice" seeking the arrest of Frenchman Jean-Claude Mas, the founder of
PIP (Poly Implant Prosthese).
Women with PIP implants "do not have
a higher risk of cancer than women who have implants manufactured by
other firms," a health ministry statement said, but there were
"well-established risks of ruptures."
French Health Minister Xavier Bertrand called for their removal as a "precautionary measure".
State-supported
medical insurance will pay for the implants' removal, but only women
who received the implants as part of reconstructive surgery, rather than
for aesthetic reasons, will have new implants paid for.
The total cost for social security is estimated at around 60 million euros ($78 million).
The
French government advised women with PIP implants to contact their
doctor and "a precautionary removal will be offered, even without
clinical signs of deterioration of the implant."
Any woman who declines the removal must have a breast scan every six months, the ministry added.
The
now-bankrupt PIP was shut down and its products banned in April last
year after it was revealed to have been using non-authorised silicone
gel that caused abnormally high implant rupture rates.
Facing
financial difficulties, the company, once the world's third-largest
producer of silicone implants, had replaced the medical-grade silicone
in its implants with industrial-strength material.
Documents
obtained by AFP showed that tens of thousands of women in more than 65
countries, mainly in South America and western Europe, received implants
produced by PIP.
In Britain, where 42,000 women have PIP
implants, authorities said the prostheses posed no notable risk, while
elsewhere in Europe authorities called for the implants to be dealt with
on a case-by-case basis.
"While we respect the French
government's decision, no other country is taking similar steps because
we currently have no evidence to support it," said Britain's Chief
Medical Officer Sally Davies.
Germany's BFARM health agency
recommended women be evaluated by doctors, while only Belgium echoed the
call for preventive removals.
"We've discussed the possibility of
a cancer risk a lot recently and there's no proof," BFARM agency
spokesman Maik Pommer said, with 19 cases of ruptured implants in
Germany since 2004.
Switzerland's health agency said it did not recommend removal of the implants for some 280 Swiss women concerned.