ARGENTINA: Argentine women demand free replacement of French PIP breast implants linked to safety scare

Record ID: 446885

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Argentine women demand free replacement of French PIP breast implants linked to safety scare
  • Date: 29th December 2011
  • Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (DECEMBER 27, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF WOMEN WALKING WOMAN SUNBATHING VARIOUS OF WOMEN WHO HAVE HAD PIP BREAST IMPLANTS MEETING WITH LAWYER LAWYER VIRGINIA LUNA (WHO HAS ALSO HAD PIP BREAST IMPLANTS AND WHO IS LEGALLY REPRESENTING A GROUP OF 50 WOMEN WHO HAVE HAD PIP IMPLANTS) ADDRESS WOMEN AT MEETING (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LAWYER VIRGINIA LUNA, SAYING: "I am formally representing 50 women but over the past two days there is a total of almost 350 women who are interested in participating in this group to carry out a group fight in which we will pursue fundamentally the right of women's health as a basic human right. Of course, what we are also looking for immediately are the economic means to get out of this situation and problem that we have been constantly faced with since the 7th of April up until today." GABRIELA ROLON, AN ARGENTINE WOMAN WHO HAS PIP IMPLANTS, AT MEETING CERTIFICATE ROLON SHOWING A LUMP SHE SAYS IS CAUSED BY A RUPTURE OF HER SILICONE IMPLANTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) GABRIELA ROLON, ARGENTINE WOMAN WHO HAS PIP IMPLANTS, SAYING: "The truth is that I want them to take these out of me already. Nobody has offered me a solution, I don't know where to go. I went to a hospital and they can't help me, so what do I do now? I don't understand. I have all the forms proving that it is ruptured (the implant), I have everything, what more do they want?" VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF HOSPITAL VARIOUS OF DR JORGE PEDRO, A SPECIALIST IN PLASTIC SURGERY SHOWING DIFFERENT TYPES OF IMPLANTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PLASTIC SURGERY SPECIALIST DR. JORGE PEDRO, SAYING: "If the patient does their tests and there is no evidence of a rupture and feels that the protheses is very encapsulated, and this can happen with any brand of protheses, then it shows on a world level that there are not any higher incidences of of breast cancer, then I believe that there could be more risks associated with removing 14,000 pairs of implants en masse. It is important to treat each case individually and continue monitoring these 14,000 patients." VARIOUS OF DR. ROBERTO LEDE, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING OF ARGENTINE HEALTH INSTITUTE ANMAT, AT HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DR. ROBERTO LEDE, DIRECTOR OF PLANNING OF ARGENTINE HEALTH INSTITUTE ANMAT, SAYING: "There are some demands, but ANMAT has adequately carried out its roll and the medical products that are imported from countries considered to require extra vigilance, we have authorized the importation on after the presentation of the authorisation for manufacturing and consumption within these countries where the product in question was made."
  • Embargoed: 13th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina, Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Legal System,Health
  • Reuters ID: LVAD3HGKWGZD1ZDXBCV4JV8V1U2H
  • Story Text: Argentine women in Buenos Aires on Tuesday (December 27) demanded the free replacement of French PIP implants after concerns were raised about the safety of the breast enhancers.
    The escalating global breast implant scare has hit hard in Buenos Aires, one of a handful of South American countries where thousands of women carry the economical implants.
    Now a group of some 50 women who have had the PIP implants are considering taking legal action in order to seek the "economic means" to have them removed. The women are being represented legally by Lawyer Virginia Luna, who has also had the PIP implants.
    "I am formally representing 50 women but over the past two days there is a total of almost 350 women who are interested in participating in this group to carry out a group fight in which we will pursue fundamentally the right of women's health as a basic human right. Of course, what we are also looking for immediately are the economic means to get out of this situation and problem that we have been constantly faced with since the 7th of April up until today," she explained, adding that Argentina had imported 13,500 PIP implants.
    Other women, such as Gabriela Rolon, said she believes one of her implants has ruptured and wants them to be removed.
    "The truth is that I want them to take these out of me already. Nobody has offered me a solution, I don't know where to go. I went to a hospital and they can't help me, so what do I do now? I don't understand. I have all the forms proving that it is ruptured (the implant), I have everything, what more do they want?," she asked.
    Researchers say the now-shuttered Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) used low-grade silicone that has an abnormally high rupture rate and may cause cancer, although there is no proof of the latter. Some 300,000 PIP implants were sold worldwide, tens of thousands of them in Latin America where demand for cosmetic procedures is high.
    "I believe that there could be more risks associated with removing 14,000 pairs of implants en masse. It is important to treat each case individually and continue monitoring these 14,000 patients," said Dr Jorge Pedro, a plastic surgery specialist.
    The PIP implants were banned in South American countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Colombia in 2010. Health authorities have urged concerned women to see their doctors, but some people are calling for authorities to do more.
    According to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, five Latin American countries -- Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Argentina -- rank among the top 20 nations where most surgical procedures were carried out last year.
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