Fw: Platinum concentrations high for women with breast implants

[Guest guest]

I posted this to Sam this morning, and wanted to keep our group in the loop.

Much love....Lea

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Platinum concentrations high for women with breast implants

Thanks to one of our sisters for sending the following. . .Myrl

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.php?event=news_print_list_item & id=162Diedtra , "Platinum concentrations high for women with breastimplants", Atlanta Journal - Constitution, August 26, 2004,Link: http://www.ajc.com/news/content/health/0804/26implants.htmlResearchers have found high concentrations of platinum in women whogot silicone breast implants and in the children they bore andbreast-fed afterward.The type of platinum found in the women's blood and urine wasdifferent than the traces of regular platinum not uncommon in people'sbodies. It was a highly reactive platinum, used to help turn siliconoil into the honey-like gel that lends a more natural feel to a breastimplant.Concentrations were up to three times higher than in women who didn'thave breast implants, according to findings by S.V.M. Maharaj, achemist at American University. Maharaj was scheduled present thefindings Thursday to the American Chemical Society in Philadelphia.Ernest Lykissa, a forensic and clinical toxicologist who co-authoredthe paper, said the study's sample size was small. But Lykissa said itfairly represented hundreds of women with implants he's studied overthe years.Women who had implants the longest recorded the highest platinumconcentrations. The heavy metal was also found in bone marrow, whereblood cells are made.Distinct from platinum released by catalytic converters in cars,platinum in implants is treated with nitric and hydrochloric acids andbecomes very reactive, Lykissa said. The heavy metal readily binds inthe human body, especially to nerve endings, short-circuitingcommunication with the brain."You see green, but you perceive a full moon," he said. "All of asudden, your brain system is not working right."Some women developed nervous tics, had faulty perception, and impairedhearing and eyesight, he said.Children born to women with implants had problems with eyesight andhearing, too, but those nervous system disorders may have been causedby something else, he cautioned.The Food and Drug Administration in January stunned plastic surgeonswhen, contradicting the advice of its expert panel, it rejectedInamed's bid to reintroduce silicone breast implants. After safetyconcerns rose, the FDA banned such implants in 1992 for most patients.In January, the drug regulatory agency asked Inamed for more detailsabout what happens when silicone seeps from the implant.Dan Cohen, a spokesman for Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Inamed, saidthe company would speak in detail about its formal reply, submitted tothe FDA earlier this month.But at the FDA's October 2003 advisory board meeting, the companybriefly discussed platinum dispersion and concentration in implantpatients. The company has tracked those patients for three years."It was not an issue that anyone dwelled on - either our presentationor the panel," Cohen said.For its part, the FDA in 2002 surveyed scientific literature thatindicated platinum leaks from implants into surrounding breast tissue.Researchers said they didn't find anything suggesting women hadallergic responses to leached platinum. H. Wooley, director of research for orthopedic surgery at WayneState University, said it's been suspected for at least a decade thatheavy metals used in manufacturing might cause problems for women whoreceive implants."I'm not sure these questions have been answered because, in general,they haven't been asked," Wooley said. "For political reasons, workingon breast-implant patients has been somewhat difficult to do."