warning with implant ads proposed

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MPs want warning with implant ads By Celia Hall, Medical Editor (Filed: 05/04/2001)

ADVERTISEMENTS for breast implants and other forms of cosmetic surgery should carry health warnings, MPs said yesterday.

Members of the cross-party Health Select Committee said they were disturbed at claims made for the results of cosmetic surgery in magazines and newspaper advertisements.

The committee is also recommending that women having cosmetic surgery should have access to independent advice and counselling and that there should be a new surveillance system to monitor the possible side effects of breast implants.

Hinchliffe, the Labour MP for Wakefield and the chairman of the committee, said women should "think very carefully" before having surgery to increase the size of their breasts.

Commenting on the committee's report on cosmetic surgery, he said: "The committee was disturbed at evidence we received where the end results of such surgery had not matched the claims made for these implants in glossy advertisements. We heard from women who were not just physically damaged as a consequence of choosing to have implants but also deeply psychologically scarred by what they had gone through."

About 8,000 women a year in Britain have breast enlargement surgery but some have had implants removed because of health scares. Last year the Government published a booklet about breast implants but the committee said it should have contained clearer warnings about the health dangers of breast surgery.

22 March 2001: Register of breast implants proposed

5 January 2001: Girl, 16, to be given breast implants as birthday present

8 June 2000: Helplines are jammed in scare over implants

7 June 2000: 5,000 women in breast implant cancer warning

Health Select Committee - House of Commons

Silicone Gel Breast Implants Review Group

Breast implants on trial - Frontline

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