Adella & Richard Matthew adellaem@shaw.ca

. First PURE PROPAGANDA

Thanks to Zee for these articles. The Propaganda Machines sure are churning in Canada!

The so-called expert quoted (Gideon Koren) in the first story is a pediatrician! In contrast, Abby Lippman is a professor of epidemiology and one of the members of the Women and Health Protection Steering

Committee:
http://www.whp-apsf.ca/en/about.html

Note the language: "anti-silicone" and "militants" used to describe those who argue for safety and transparency.

To respond to this nonsense:

Ottawa Citizen: letters@thecitizen.southam.ca

Experts insist silicone breast implants safe Time to lift ban, stop scaring women, authority on
dangerous chemicals says Sharon Kirkey

The Ottawa Citizen

Monday, September 26, 2005

A leading authority on dangerous chemicals in women says silicone breast implants are safe and Canada should stop delaying bringing them back on the market.

"Voluminous" reports by independent scientists have found no evidence that silicone gel-filled breast implants cause lupus-like sicknesses or other serious diseases, says Dr. Gideon Koren, director of Motherisk at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. The program has counselled more than a quarter-million women on the safety and risks of drugs and chemicals during pregnancy and while breast-feeding.

"I believe that women should have the right to choose, especially products which were shown beyond reasonable doubt not to cause health issues," says Dr. Koren, a professor of pediatrics and pharmacology at the University of Toronto.

"It's such a common practice to scare women. It's a national sport. And I don't think we should be part of this. It should all be based on evidence."

His comments come as a Health Canada expert advisory panel prepares this week to let the public speak on whether to lift a 13-year partial ban on silicone breast implants, and as opponents step up campaigns to keep the devices off the open market.

About 40 people are scheduled to address the panel at a downtown Ottawa hotel Thursday and Friday.

Anti-silicone groups say long-term safety questions remain and that short-term data from company studies show high rates of complications and ruptures.

One company, Inamed Corporation, is no longer seeking Health Canada approval to sell one particular style of implant because of a higher rupture rate. McGill University professor Abby Lippman says that raises serious questions about data from a key study Inamed is relying on to get approval for its other implants.

"They had to eliminate people with one of these styles of things from their own data. These guys seem to be pulling out their data and re-analysing it, saying this group ruptured and we don't want to count them," says Ms. Lippman, a member of Women and Health Protection, a group funded by Health Canada.

Silicone gel-filled implants were voluntarily pulled from the market in 1992 amid safety concerns and have been available under "special access" only, meaning surgeons have to apply for approval each time they want to use the devices.

In a two-year period between 2003 and 2004, 9,864 silicone implants were released under special access.

On a Health Canada webpage for public input, surgeons praise the new generation implants, which contain thicker gels, for giving breasts a more natural "seamless" look, with less "rippling" than saline implants.

In other submissions, a woman who had silicone implants describes a "burning-like fire" in her chest wall. Another woman says scar tissue containing silicone was found "wrapped around my ribcage to my spine" when her implant was removed. "Please do not allow these 'ticking time bombs' to be put back on the market," says a man whose wife -- who had silicone implants for 14 years -- lives with constant daily pain and fatigue.

The expert panel will meet in private to review what it says is confidential commercial data from manufacturers before deciding what advice to give the government. Mississauga plastic surgeon Dr. Frank Lista says the debate on whether to bring silicone implants back is being "handcuffed by militant groups" opposed to their return. He says Health Canada has already approved silicone gel testicular implants -- made by Mentor and from the same materials found in silicone breast implants.

"Why don't we hear any men's 'victims' groups in Canada complaining about health concerns or obvious sexism," Dr. Lista wrote in an opinion article e-mailed to CanWest News Service by a public relations firm working for Mentor.

In an interview, Dr. Lista, past-president of the Canadian Society of Aesthetic (Cosmetic) Plastic Surgery, said he was asked by Mentor to speak with reporters, but says he was not paid by the company to do so. Dr. Lista says silicone implants have been "the most researched medical device ever."

A 1999 U.S. Institutes of Medicine report concluded there's no evidence that silicone implants are toxic to humans, harm the immune system or increase the risk of cancers. The committee said the most serious problems involved ruptures, infections or problems when tissue contracts around the implant.

Inamed and Mentor have received conditional approval to sell their implants on the U.S. market.

C The Ottawa Citizen 2005

 ___________________________________________________


"Self-esteem for sale"

Montreal Gazette Sunday, September 25, 2005
Page: D8 Section: Insight
Byline: SUE MONTGOMERY
Column: Sue Montgomery
Source: The Gazette

Canadians are having a body-image crisis. We're obsessed with vaginal reconstruction, toe shortening and breast implants - health risks or obvious fake looks be damned. You'd think there'd be a move in Ottawa to help this nation, especially girls thinking they should resemble Brittany Spears or Jennifer Lopez, to realize self-esteem can't be bought. You'd think government might be worried about all the health-care costs incurred when plastic surgery goes wrong. Instead, a government-appointed panel of experts will gather Thursday to ponder whether silicone-gel breast implants - yanked from the market 13 years ago because of health concerns - should be allowed once again.

These plump, round pillows tended to rupture or leak, and were linked to arthritis, vascular disease and a range of autoimmune disorders, and roughly 300,000 affected American and Canadian women successfully sued Dow Corning Corp. Will the recommendations the panel gives to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health place women's health ahead of huge profits?

It's hard to have faith when already the process seems flawed, with the deck stacked in favour of Mentor and Inamed, manufacturers of silicone implants, and plastic surgeons, who stand to make gazillions if approval comes through. One panel member is Toronto plastic surgeon Mitchell Brown, who advertised in a Globe and Mail supplement a couple of weeks ago for his clinic, trumpeting the use of silicone-gel breast implants.

Brown charges between $7,000 and $8,000 for a boob job, and although the silicone implants are supposed to be currently available under very strict criteria and judged by Health Canada on a case-by-case basis, Brown seems to be doing a booming business. His website contains many gushing testimonials from satisfied customers. They aren't women experiencing the traumatic effects of a mastectomy- they just want bigger, perkier breasts.

That's the case in 80 per cent of the 100,000 to 200,000 Canadian women with implants. Gizelle, for example, is thrilled with her Inamed cohesive gels, style 410, medium height, full projection, 335 cc's. "Got Canadian Boobies. Pass the Maple Syrup!" And this from Jade: "I am from NY, U.S.A. and I went to Toronto to have this done since cohesive gels are not yet available in the States." Well Jade, they aren't supposed to be widely available here, either, but in the past year, Health Canada has given the go-ahead in 6,000 cases. All the plastic surgeon has to do is write a letter saying why the treatment can't be accomplished using a saline-filled implants, which are licensed. What does the good doctor say? "My patient can't get the perkiness with saline that she can with silicone and, therefore, her self-esteem is destroyed."

That plastic surgeons are cashing in on the poor body image of women is bad enough, but that our government is backing them up on it, is a crime. It's also shameful that Health Canada isn't concerned about Brown's conflict, as well as that of two other panel members who were paid by Inamed to provide information last spring to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory panel supporting Inamed's application for approval in the United States.

These three men are allowed to stay on the 13-member panel because, Health Canada says, they're able to be objective and besides, the expert pool in this field is very small in Canada. What's the point of having members reveal conflict of interest if it won't be acted upon?

Last spring, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh promised "more openness, more transparency, more accountability" in Health Canada's regulatory oversight systems. We know and they know there's a conflict. So where's the accountability?

smontgomery@thegazette.canwest.com
www.canada.com