- Title: ARGENTINA: Argentine women protest faulty PIP breast implants
- Date: 21st May 2013
- Summary: BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (MAY 20, 2013) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF BUENOS AIRES COURTHOUSE VARIOUS OF WOMEN FITTED WITH FAULTY BREAST IMPLANTS PROTESTING AND STARTING PETITION OUTSIDE OF COURTHOUSE VARIOUS OF LAWYER REPRESENTING ARGENTINE VICTIMS, VIRGIN LUNA, SHOWING RIPPED IMPLANTS THAT SHE SAYS WERE IN VICTIM LUNA OUTSIDE OF COURT (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LAWYER, VIRGINIA LUNA, SAYING: "In accordance with the day of the ruling on December 10 and the confirmed sentence from the criminal process and recognising compensation for affected women without differentiating between French or foreign territory. What we will not tolerate in any way and we will fight it, is if justice determines there be no compensation for foreign (victims)." WOMEN COLLECTING SIGNATURES DURING PROTEST PROTESTER MARIA ANDREA NOCITO COLLECTING SIGNATURES (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PROTESTER, MARIA ANDREA NOCITO, SAYING: "What I want to happen is for them (French court officials) to listen to us and be aware that the damaged caused was terrible. I want the money to change the prosthesis, compensation and for someone to pay for this to be done." VARIOUS OF WOMEN COLLECTING SIGNATURES FOR PETITION DURING PROTEST
- Embargoed: 5th June 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Argentina
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: Health,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA7O15X4MOC29D388AZLU8P6OFB
- Story Text: Argentine women protest outside a Buenos Aires courthouse to demand compensation for victims of the PIP breast implant scandal.
Argentine women fitted with substandard breast implants sold by a French company protested outside a Buenos Aires courthouse on Monday (May 20) demanding free replacement of breast implants and compensation.
The protest comes as the makers of the controversial implants are on trial in France. Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) founder and long-time chief executive, 73-year-old Jean-Claude Mas, has admitted filling the implants with an unapproved homemade recipe made of industrial-grade silicone gel.
Circulating a petition to pressure French court officials, Argentine victims are demanding financial compensation for foreign victims so that they can have their implants removed for free, as victims in France are having done.
"In accordance with the day of the ruling on December 10 and the confirmed sentence from the criminal process and recognising compensation for affected women without differentiating between French or foreign territory. What we will not tolerate in any way and we will fight it, is if justice determines there be no compensation for foreign (victims)," said lawyer, Virginia Luna.
A magnet for medical tourists looking for affordable cosmetic surgery, Buenos Aires was hit hard by the PIP breast implant scare with an estimated 15,000 women carrying the economical implants.
Unlike some governments, Argentina has not offered to pay for surgery to remove the implants and the French company that sold them has gone bankrupt, leaving the victims who gathered here with few options.
"What I want to happen is for them (French court officials) to listen to us and be aware that the damaged caused was terrible. I want the money to change the prosthesis, compensation and for someone to pay for this to be done," said PIP victim and protester, Maria Andrea Nocito.
Mas and four PIP executives, including the chief financial officer, are charged with aggravated fraud and risk maximum prison terms of five years each, plus fines, for selling the implants around the world from 2001 to 2010, when they were ordered off the market.
The 2010 cancer death of a French woman with implants made by the company had caused a global health scare with an estimated 400,000 PIP implants sold worldwide before the company went bankrupt.
Health authorities in France and elsewhere have stressed that PIP's products carry no proven link to cancer, but surgeons report that they have abnormally high rupture rates. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None