Brazil Bans French-Made Breast Implants

Just recently, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) has released a statement saying the defective silicone breast implants made by PIP, a now bankrupt French company, did not reach the US.  This means that only patients who received breast augmentation outside the country are the ones who should only be concerned with the products.

But unfortunately, the ASPS said that about 80 percent of PIP breast implants were exported to other countries including UK, Chile, Spain, Germany, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina, and Brazil.  For this reason, estimates suggest that 300,000 patients worldwide are affected by the substandard products.

Meanwhile, some reports show that PIP implants were sold by a Dutch-based company under the brand name “M” which was commonly used in Brazil.  And with the growing international scandal, the biggest country in Latin America has recently banned the defective products.

Aside from a nationwide ban, Brazil’s healthy ministry also said the government is willing to pay the medical costs for the removal of PIP breast implants.  This has also been the promise of French authority to the affected patients.

In fact, 39 women in Brazil have been entitled to receive implant removal surgery free of charge.

On the other hand, UK authority still insists that there is no reason to conduct a nationwide removal of PIP breast implants.  Such statement has appalled the public as some authorities directly said the government and clinics cannot foot the bill for about 40,000 patients with PIP implants, which are said to lack coating that prevents the gel filling from leaking out of the shell.

While Brazil is offering free implant removal surgery, the government said the coverage is only applicable for those with ruptured implants.  And without any symptoms, a patient should foot the bill if she is concerned with the potential complications associated with PIP’s products.

“We are not offering free preventive surgeries,” one government official said.

Currently, the health ministry has no idea on how many PIPbreast implants were imported and sold in Brazil.  However, it has discovered that in December last year alone, the country imported about 34,631 implants, with 24,534 of these were sold.