Fw: Breast Implants Found Full of Germs: Source - Edmonton Journal - Nov. 1992 - Canada

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From: " Kathi " <pureheart@...>

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Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 8:46 PM

Subject: Breast Implants Found Full of Germs: Source - Edmonton Journal -

Nov. 1992 - Canada

> from Lea......thanks!!

> This is an old article, but it is as relevant today as it was then.

>

> The Canadian Press - Montreal Gazette Ottawa chemist Pierre Blais and

> colleagues at Laval University in Quebec City say they have found large

> colonies of germs in surgically removed breast implants. We're finding

> huge amounts of infectious materials in both saline filled silicone- gel

> breast implants, " Blais said in an interview. The implants were removed

> mostly from Canadian and American women who were experiencing infection,

> respiratory and immune-system problems and swelling and fever, Blais

> said. A couple of implants were so contaminated with fungi and other

> germs that they had turned coal black. " Blais and his colleagues are

> using high- powered microscopes to examine the germs. But " in some

> cases, we could easily see signs of the infected material all without a

> microscope, " he said. We're talking about grams of infected materials,

> not tiny amounts. It includes bacteria, exotic fungi, some of which grow

> like miniature mushrooms. Some of the saline implants have poorly

> designed valves that unfortunately can allow protein and plasma from the

> women to seep into the liquid. This may allow the germs to proliferate.

> And when some of these colonies get big enough, the germs could release

> toxins that could affect body tissue and nerves. " The greatest danger to

> women with contaminated implants is that the infectious material could

> spread through the body if the implants leak or burst, he said. " Once

> infection is in the body, the immune system would be forced to react and

> it could trigger an inflammatory process. " So far the chemists have

> studied 20 sets of saline- filled implants and three sets of silicone-

> gel implants from various manufacturers. All the implants had some

> germs. The variety and high degree of contamination suggest that

> manufacturing problems may be at fault, particularly sterilization,

> Blais said. But, he said has no proof that was the case. Nor is there

> any way of knowing how many of the several million sets of implants

> inserted in women in North America, mostly in the last seven years, have

> been contaminated by germs, he said. We've only recently started looking

> at infection in implants and so we don't know how widespread the problem

> is. " Blais cautioned that women with implants shouldn't jump to

> conclusions on the basics of early of early study results because little

> is known about breast-implant contamination and the processes that might

> cause harm. He is to present evidence from the study of contaminated

> implants at a conference in Ohio, this weekend. A moratorium on silicone

> gel filled implants began in the United States and Canada last January

> after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found safety data on

> several products inadequate. The implants are now available to women in

> the United States who enrol in limited studies. Saline filled implants

> remain widely available in the U.S. and Canada.

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