Scots 'victim' begs MSPs for breast implant ban

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Scots 'victim' begs MSPs for breast implant ban

Published Date: 30 November 2010

By Rory Reynolds

A SCOTS woman who has suffered ill health for 25 years after receiving breast implants has petitioned the ish Parliament, calling for them to be banned.

Mairi ston, 55, wants MSPs to press for a change in EU regulations after suffering from silicone poisoning since 1986.

She is one of thousands of women who have reported symptoms similar to those caused by multiple sclerosis after undergoing

treatment for breast enhancement or replacement.

Ms ston, who gave up her sewing business due to ill health and underwent a hysterectomy at 31, is urging the ish Parliament to push for further rights for affected women to seek action against medical firms.

She successfully lobbied the EU for stricter regulations, including independent pre- surgery counselling on the long-term effect, alongside former Scotland MEP Bill and international expert Professor Radford Shanklin in 2001.

She was also among more than 110,000 women involved in a class-action lawsuit against silicone manufacturer Dow Corning, but did not receive compensation because of a lack of hospital records.

The company received claims for more than £1.9 billion from women who had developed serious health problems after having implants. However, Ms ston believes many young women considering breast enhancement today are still unaware of the case or the dangers.

She was 28 when given implants through the NHS at Aberdeen's Forester Hill Hospital in 1985, because she felt her breasts hadn't developed properly. "I thought maybe I had a problem and I went ahead to the doctor and the next thing I was in hospital," she said. "I was never taken through any of it and it was like getting a filling in your teeth. I never thought they would leak or burst. You put your trust completely into your surgeon."

Within months the mother-of-three's health had deteriorated. She said: "I ran my own sewing business, and my arms were just going all weak, I couldn't hold up the material. Then I got scabs, mouth ulcers, arthritis, pains in my kidneys, headaches, everything. I felt dizzy all the time and I've had a constant low grade fever for the past 25 years.

"That was the silicone leaking. On top of that the implants were completely brick hard and cold, it was horrendous."

Over the years she has had 14 operations, including one to remove a second set of implants in 1996, and has also had some of her lymph system removed.

Experts remain divided over the safety of silicone implants. In 2006, a 14-year ban on cosmetic silicone products in the United States was lifted, allowing women to move away from saline implants.

Mr Awf Quaba, a leading consultant plastic surgeon at Spire Murrayfield Hospital, who has been in practice since 1973, said: "There is no evidence that silicone gel harms pregnant women, stops a woman breastfeeding, or leads to breast cancer

Scots 'victim' begs MSPs for breast implant ban

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Published Date: 30 November 2010

By Rory Reynolds

"If you have 100,000 women who have breast implants then of these one in 100 will get an illness of some sort. If you get 1,000 women who have breast implants and you follow them for 10 years you will find that a proportion of them will have all sorts of problems. But if you get 1,000 of similar age, ethnicity, background, without implants they will have had the same proportion of illnesses."

http://www.scotsman.com/news/Scots-39victim39-begs-MSPs-.6643940.jp

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