From Zuckerman: recent studies on implants

[Guest guest]

--- Zuckerman <dz@...> wrote:

> From: " Zuckerman " <dz@...>

> <ifriends@...>

> Subject: recent studies on implants

> Date: Thu, 20 Apr 2006 09:25:47 -0400

>

> Dear Friends,

>

> Here is a brief analysis of three recent implant

> studies.

>

> Best wishes,

>

>

> Zuckerman, Ph.D.

> President

> National Research Center for Women & Families

> 1701 K Street, NW, Suite 700

> Washington, DC 20006

> (202) 223-4000

> www.center4research.org

>

>

>

> Breast Implant Study Results Reflect Funding

> Wednesday April 19, 12:41 pm ET

> Independent Studies Raise Serious Safety Concerns

> for Implant Recipients

>

>

> WASHINGTON, April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- As the FDA

> considers whether to approve silicone gel breast

> implants for the first time, three newly published

> peer-reviewed studies provide information that makes

> the decision more difficult for the FDA.

> " The FDA needs more independent research to find out

> what is causing the higher rates of suicide, and to

> examine other potentially serious health risks for

> women with implants, " says Dr. Zuckerman,

> President of the National Research Center for Women

> and Families and an associate at the Center for

> Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania.

>

> A study published today in the Journal of the

> National Cancer Institute (Dow Study), was funded by

> Dow Corning, a major manufacturer of silicone. At

> one time, Dow was the major manufacturer of breast

> implants. The company has funded almost four dozen

> research articles in the last decade, all of which

> conclude that breast implants are safe. However,

> studies funded by scientists who do not have ties to

> implant manufacturers have consistently found

> implant problems that the Dow-funded studies have

> not.

>

> The new Dow-funded study, conducted in Sweden, found

> that Swedish women with breast implants were more

> than twice as likely to have lung cancer as women in

> the general Swedish population, but concluded that

> this was " expected due to the high prevalence of

> smoking. " However, the researchers did not

> statistically control for smoking to determine if

> smoking was in fact the likely cause of lung cancer

> among these women, and the researchers did not

> mention that almost one-third of women with lung

> cancer never smoked. The Dow-funded study also found

> a 30% increase in brain cancer among women with

> implants, but since that risk was not statistically

> significant the authors conclude there is no

> problem.

>

> " The conclusions of the Dow-funded study need to be

> viewed in the context of independent research that

> is not funded by any implant companies, " explains

> Dr. Zuckerman. " They accurately report the results,

> but their conclusions go beyond the data. "

>

> A new study by scientists at the National Cancer

> Institute (NCI Study) is larger, longer, and

> better-designed than the Dow-funded study, with

> findings that are strikingly similar, but different

> conclusions. Published in the peer-reviewed journal

> Epidemiology, the NCI study found a 60% increase in

> deaths from respiratory cancers among women with

> breast implants compared to other plastic surgery

> patients. NCI scientists did not attribute this to

> smoking, since implant patients have similar smoking

> habits to other plastic surgery patients. The NCI

> study also found a doubling of deaths from brain

> cancer among women with implants, as well as an

> increase in non-cancerous brain neoplasms. " The NCI

> authors are appropriately cautious about the meaning

> of these findings, clearly indicating that they are

> not sure if implants are causing cancer deaths, "

> says Judy Norsigian, Executive Director of the

> nonprofit organization Our Bodies, Ourselves and

> editor of internationally-respected book by that

> title. " In contrast, the Dow-funded researchers are

> concluding that the implants are safe. "

>

> The most worrisome finding in the NCI study was the

> significant increase - - more than double -- in

> suicides among women with breast implants compared

> to other plastic surgery patients. Three Dow-funded

> studies have also found significant increases in

> suicides among women with implants, all of them

> comparing implant patients to the general

> population. The controversy is whether women who

> want breast implants are more prone to suicide

> (which would suggest that women are getting plastic

> surgery when what they need is mental health

> treatment) or whether breast implants are causing

> pain, complications, or financial stresses (from

> repeated surgeries and implant replacements) that

> are increasing the risk of suicide.

>

> " The goal of breast implants is to help women feel

> better about themselves. So, the NCI findings of

> almost a tripling of suicides should be shocking to

> plastic surgeons and the public, " points out

> Pearson, Executive Director of the National Women's

> Health Network, a nonprofit health advocacy

> organization.

>

> A new study in a peer-reviewed chemistry journal,

> Analytical Chemistry, adds to the FDA's problems and

> to patients' worries. The study, to be published in

> May but already available online, found very high

> and potentially toxic levels of platinum in the

> breast milk, urine, hair, and nails of women with

> silicone gel breast implants. Platinum is used in

> the manufacture of silicone elastomer, the rubber

> balloon-like material that the implant shell is made

> of. Urine samples of women who had silicone gel

> breast implants for an average of 14 years had

> between 60 and 1700 times the amount of platinum

> when compared to women with no platinum exposure.

> Even more disturbing, women who had breast implants

> had 100 times the levels of platinum in their breast

> milk.

>

> " Our hotline hears from women every day, desperately

> trying to get their leaking silicone implants

> removed, and finding it difficult to afford ($5,000-

> $10,000) or to find a plastic surgeon who wants to

> remove leaking silicone implants without replacing

> them with new implants. They feel trapped with a

> leaking implant in their body that they don't have

> the resources to remove, " Dr. Zuckerman concluded.

>

> The National Research Center for Women & Families

> (NRC) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and

> education organization that works to improve

> policies and programs that affect the health and

> safety of women, children, and families.

> http://www.center4research.org

>

>

>

>