Date: Mon, 22 May 2000 00:07:26 -0700

To: Recipient List Suppressed:;

Anonymous wrote:

One event ... two articles ... two very DIFFERENT stories

It is awful to see in the following news articles the difference in press coverage of the same news event as provided in the first story by the British press vs. The second version of the story in the US press. Even the headlines give a drastically different view.

Between this, and the fact that the US press will not REALLY give us coverage any more (particularly since the U.S. Institute of Medicine's report made public last June), our Constitutional right to "freedom of the press" seems undermined by big business, including the big business of medicine.

Friday, 19 May, 2000, 10:13 GMT 11:13 UK

HUGE RUPTURE RATE IN BREAST IMPLANTS

Many of the inplants had ruptured (photo)

Almost seven out of ten silicone-gel breast implants scanned by researchers had developed a leak. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study could reawaken the debate over the safety of breast implants.

Many women claim that leaking silicone-gel has sparked serious illness, including chronic autoimmune disease.

The FDA team used MRI scans too look at 344 women with implants.

They found that 69% had a least one ruptured implant.

And in 21%, the silicone gel contained within the implant had leaked beyond the breast into other parts of the body.

In another part of the study, 907 women who had undergone breast enhancement surgery were interviewed.

One-third of these had felt it necessary to have at least one operation to either remove or replace an implant.

Breast enhancement is one of the more common operations carried out by cosmetic surgeons.

Hundreds of thousands of women in the UK have silicone implants.

The alternatives to silicone include saline salt water filled pads, or soya-based implants.

The FDA restricted the use of silicone-gel implants in 1992 only women participating in clinical trials are allowed to have them.

However, doctors studying the health effects of silicone maintain that that there is no evidence of any link between the implants and the diseases reported by the women.

They say that silicone is inert it does not produce any chemical reactions in the body.

However, they did find that women undergoing breast enhancement surgery were running extra risks - but mainly associated with the operation itself.

Dow Corning, once the world's biggest makers of silicone gel implants, filed for protection from creditors in May 1995 after lawsuits from thousands of women were filed alleging health problems caused by the implants.

See also:

08 Mar 99 | Health

Breast implants withdrawn

21 Jun 99 | Health

Breast implants 'do not cause serious disease'

08 Jul 98 | Sci/Tech

Breast implants 'safe'

02 Dec 98 | Sci/Tech

Natural breast implants could replace silicone

Internet links:

FDA

Coalition of Silicone Survivors

________________________________

By Rita Rubin

USA TODAY

A government study being presented today shows that silicone breast implants in two-thirds of the 344 women studied ruptured, even though they had no symptoms.

The Food and Drug Administration study is the first to use magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, to detect implant ruptures in women with nosymptoms. Other rupture studies, which focused on implants that had been removed because of complications, have been criticized as being biased.

The FDA's findings raise concerns for the 1 million women in the USA estimated to have silicone-gel breast implants.

''In my judgment, it's still unclear what the ultimate long-term consequences might be,'' says materials scientist Eugene Goldberg of the University of Florida. He is chair of the World Biomaterials Congress symposium in Hawaii, where an FDA official will present the study.

A report last year by the Institute of Medicine concluded that women with the implants are no more likely than other people to develop cancer, autoimmune diseases or neurological problems. The implants, however, can lead to other complications, such as infection and the migration of silicone gel to other parts of the body, that report says.

''Silicone loose in the body is something not to dismiss,'' says David Feigal, director of the FDA center responsible for oversight of breast implants and other medical devices.

Since April 1992, silicone-gel implants have been available in the USA only to breast reconstruction patients in clinical trials. David Kessler, FDA commissioner in 1992, banned wider use because manufacturers had failed to provide scientific data about the implants' safety and effectiveness.

McGhan Medical Corp., which last week won FDA permission to keep its saline-filled implants on the market, has announced that it plans to seek approval of silicone-gel implants as well. McGhan officials were unavailable to comment on the FDA findings.

In the FDA study, the women underwent MRI exams and three radiologists reviewed the images. They found that 55% of the implants had ruptured; 69% of the women in the study were affected. In 21% of the women, the silicone gel had leaked beyond the capsule of scar tissue that had built up around the implant.

Women in the study had the implants for at least six years; some had them for more than 25 years.

''We don't really know what to recommend'' to those whose implants ruptured, Feigal says. ''I think that's something that each of them has had to decide with their plastic surgeons.''