Myrl Jeffcoat myrlj@jps.net

DR. HELMAN: Hi. Good morning. I'm Susan Helman from Florida. I have paid my own way here because I feel that this panel needs to hear from women like me.

I had breast implants for 15 years and suffered greatly. My implants ruptured. And after numerous surgeries to remove silicone from my body, the last surgeon stated, "There is no way to remove it all, Susan. It's migrated to all your tissues, your organs. It's everywhere." Silicone as well as platinum was found in my cheek cells, bone marrow, and lymph nodes, also in my urine and in my blood.

My urine platinum levels when measured eight years after explantation were 25 parts per billion, which is within the range of patients receiving chemotherapy agent cisplatin. The urine platinum level in the general population is .04 parts per billion. So mine was more than 500 times greater.

The platinum ion in my urine and in my tissues I found was the exact match to my implants that they studied as well. My body is full of ionized platinum with no known way to remove it.

As you know, the CDC has identified platinum as a suspected toxin. Because of my ruptured implants and the resulting exposure to silicone and platinum, I have been diagnosed with MS and lupus and fibromyalgia and scleroderma among many other things.

And I'm sick. And I can't get health insurance. When I need it the most, I can't get it. I don't want anybody else to suffer this way. I get severe disabling headaches and nausea when I am exposed to exhaust fumes or unusual odors of any kind, and I never had this problem before ever.

I'm also concerned about young women of childbearing age and their children. I've heard that platinum can be transmitted in milk. And I have platinum in my urine. So, you know, I see no reason why it couldn't be in breast milk.

Any mother would be heartbroken to find out that during a cosmetic surgery, unbeknownst to her, it caused her breast milk to be adulterated and cause injury to her newborn child.

I just ask that before implants are considered safe, platinum testing be done on a random sample of women with silicone gel breast implants and on women with implants, the breast milk of women with implants.

And, in closing, please, please, please vote against the gel filled breast implants until you're sure that the benefits far outweigh the risks. The first oath a doctor learns is do no harm.

Thank you.