Study Says Breast Implants are still Cause for Concern.................

[Guest guest]

Study Says Breast Implants are still Cause for

Concern.................

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

AID=/20060424/LIFESTYLE/604240302 & SearchID=73242563724491

BRAVO to and Beth!

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Study says breast implants are still cause for concern

By NASEEM SOWTI

nsowti@...

MUNCIE -- If there was a worst-case scenario for getting silicone

breast implants, would be the one to talk about it.

With a total of 10 surgeries since 1975 -- each surgeon trying to

fix the work of previous one and inserting a new pair of implants --

, who is now 57 years old, ended up with no implants and a

slew of medical conditions that she attributes to silicone gel

leaking into her body.

" I can spit into a white paper towel, and it looks like someone

shook silvery sprinkles all over it, " said.

That silicone implants can be hazardous to women's health is what

pulled them out of the U.S. market in 1992. But the possibility of

them releasing a harmful form of platinum into the body has never

been seriously debated until now.

Earlier this month, researchers reported that they have found high

and potentially hazardous levels of platinum salt in some women who

had silicone implants for many years.

Last June, finally found a toxicology lab in Texas -- the

same one that released the recent report -- that was willing to test

her saliva and urine for the presence of platinum.

" They said the level of platinum in my saliva was 1.1, and it should

be zero, " according to the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention standards, she said.

" But no one takes this seriously. I live in a small town in

Pennsylvania, and the doctors here think I'm a joke, " said ,

who now suffers from fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, Barrett

syndrome, and scar tissue in her chest, which resulted from the

implants and related surgeries.

The study, which was published in a journal of the American Chemical

Society, comes out as the Food and Drug Administration is poised to

allow silicone implants back on the market for unrestricted sale.

And the recent report is challenged by chemists associated with

implant makers and some of the medical community.

The study is based on findings in 16 women, and " 16 is not a

significant number, " when it comes to scientific research, said

Ansar Ansari, a cosmetic surgeon in Muncie.

Brook, a chemist and silicone-manufacturing expert at

McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, told The Washington Post

earlier this month that the new study contained some data and

conclusions about platinum that were very hard, if not impossible,

to accept.

And last week, a new study, funded by Dow Corning Corporation, which

was a major maker of silicone implants in the 1990s and ended up

paying more than $3 billion in lawsuits, reassured the safety of

silicone implants.

While, most of the previous consumers are unhappy with the possible

return of silicone implants, many cosmetic surgeons are looking

forward to their FDA approval, since " silicone feels more natural

(than saline implants) ... It feels more like breast tissue, " Ansari

said.

Saline implants have been used as an alternative to silicone in the

past decade, albeit there also are horror stories surrounding those

implants, like that of Beth -- www.toxicbreastimplants.org.

Meanwhile, the breast-augmentation business has been growing, as

there was a 10-percent increase in breast enhancements from 2004 to

2005, and a 37-percent increase between years 2000 and 2005,

according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons.

" Of course I had worries, " said Whittenburg of Muncie, who got

saline implants in February to go from size 34A to 36C. " I am a

registered nurse, and I knew first hand about the dangers, but I

think compliance and listening to the doctor means a lot, too. " She

added that she doesn't smoke or drink, which would lower her risk of

possible complications.

There were roughly 290,000 breast augmentations in 2005 and 25,000

implant removals, according to the ASPS. From the hundreds of

implants Ansari has placed in the past two decades, he said he has

had " one implant that failed " and had to be removed.

Contact news reporter Naseem Sowti at 213-5829.

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www.BreastImplantAwareness.org