Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2000 14:06:28 +1200

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From: USSW

Date: Saturday, 25 July 1998 05:38

Subject: Statement in Conjunction with the National Academy of Sciences

Institute of Medicine Committee on the Safety Of...

From Toni: Didn't want my blood to be the only blood that boils!!!

Jul. 23, 1998 8:26 pm EDT

Toni Risch's

Statement in Conjunction with the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine Committee on the Safety Of...

PRNewswire

22-JUL-98

Media Availability- WIIN President Sandra Finestone

Wednesday, July 22, Georgetown Leavey Center

The Women's Implant Information Network (WIIN) supports the process of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine (IOM) this week to participate in scientific presentations and consider the massive literature to date in review of the safety of silicone breast implants. IOM to Resolve Confusion and Misinformation WIIN looks forward to the findings of the IOM Committee scheduled for release next year. The hope is that the widespread confusion and misinformation regarding silicone breast implants will finally be resolved for the U.S. public, as it has been for medical researchers and breast cancer patient advocates worldwide for the past several years. UK Health Department Report: No Evidence of Greater Health Risk

This week's US IOM meeting follows last week's report by the Silicone Gel Breast Implants Independent Review Group (IRG) commissioned and endorsed by the UK Department of Health. WIIN notes that on July 14, 1998, IRG Chairman Professor Roger Sturrock reported "we left no stone unturned" in reviewing "immense amounts of complex evidence," concluding that "the suggested link with these implants and any established connective tissue disease does not stand up to scientific scrutiny."

Professor Sturrock said the IRG "independently reached these findings after taking extensive oral and written evidence from an extremely wide range of sources, including women with implants, representatives of women's support groups, clinicians, researchers, lawyers and the industry, as well as plaintiff and defence submissions from the USA."

WIIN President, cancer survivor, and silicone gel breast implant recipient Sandra Finestone commented, "The stated mission of the Institute of Medicine is 'to advance and disseminate scientific knowledge to improve human health.' US women need to place full faith in the exhaustive review process of the Institute of Medicine, as well as their own common sense."

No peer-reviewed, well-controlled clinical study to date has linked any serious disease with either silicone gel breast implants or with silicone- saline breast implants. Furthermore, there is no significant increase or change in the incidence of serious disease in women with implants compared to the same types of women who do not have implants.

WIIN is a national organization of people concerned about the breast implant issue. WIIN's President, Sandra Finestone, an Orange County, California resident who received silicone gel filled breast implants in 1983 following a double mastectomy, helped form the group in 1992. The organization has more than 300 members across the country, and hundreds of people call WIIN's information line on a regular basis. WIIN represents both women who are considering or have chosen breast implants for reconstruction following breast cancer surgery, and women who are considering or have chosen breast implants for cosmetic purposes. Media Availability: Interview WIIN President Sandra Finestone When: Wednesday, July 22, 1998, Noon- 1:00 p.m. Where: Georgetown University Leavey Conference Center, Salon D, 3800 Reservoir Road, Washington, DC

Credentialed media welcome. Please call the contact below to arrange an interview.

CONTACT:

Cathy Purcell, 202-955-6222, for the Women's Implant information Network.