At least 50 Greek women with French implants
At least 50 women in Greece have used breast implants made by defunct French manufacturer PIP that have shown abnormally high rates of rupture, a newspaper said on Thursday.
Ta Nea daily, citing health ministry sources, said at least 250 implant pairs made by Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) were sold to surgeons between 2009 and 2010 and that at least 50 women had implants fitted.
“Very soon these women will be located and they will be informed by their surgeons of the need for a re-examination,» health ministry general secretary Antonis Dimopoulos told the daily.
Around 300,000 women in 65 countries are believed to have received PIP implants, deemed a risk to health after the discovery that the company used an illegal industrial-grade gel that, according to French investigators, has led to abnormally high rates of ruptured implants.
More than 450 lawsuits have been filed in three countries, and French police have placed PIP and its founder Jean-Claude Mas, 72, under investigation.
Not all state authorities have found the scare credible.
France, Germany, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands have recommended that the devices be removed as a precaution but Britain has said it will not follow suit.
Thirteen countries in Europe and Latin America have urged women to have a checkup. In two of them of them — Bolivia and Venezuela — the state is offering operations to have the implants removed, but has not made this a recommendation.
In contrast, Australia says it found no evidence that the implants posed a risk. [AFP]
