ParfumGigi@aol.com

Health News Analyzer 

I received an e-mail yesterday from a reader in the UK and it brought back memories of the many years that I spent reporting on breast implants, particularly on the polyurethane Meme. (See, for example, TOXIC BREASTS, one of my pieces published in MOTHER JONES, featured in my MAGAZINES section.) The complex issue of how breast implants can be toxic to the body lives on and, over the past several years, I have been stunned by the shallowness of numerous members of the scientific community who cling to the notion that these poorly designed and manufactured products are safe and effective. Safety and efficacy must be proven. And anecdotal nonsense from the mouths of plastic surgeons is not science. These doctors are among some of the best examples of scientific and/or medical dunces that IÌve met over many years as a reporter. They do methodologically inane studies and try to pass them off as science. The massive PR campaign financed by plastic surgeons and medical societies has unfortunately overwhelmed numerous journalists who have, in one way or another, encouraged another generation of women to "go for it." My reader's new web site is www.toxicimplants.co.uk. It's linked up with a variety of sites that have a wide range of information on breast implants. This is an issue that I plan to take up in the weeks ahead and also follow very carefully. There is still a lot to be said about how women have been conned into believing that these products are just A-okay.