Oct. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Baxter Healthcare Corp. and 3M Co. agreed to pay up to $4.3 million to settle a 10-year-old class action suit filed by Canadian women who claimed the companies ignored the dangers of silicone in breast implants and failed to warn women who bought them.

British Columbia Supreme Court Justice E.R. Edwards approved the settlement, which requires the companies to pay between $2.5 million and $4.3 million depending on how many women make claims, and up to $200,000 for legal fees, attorney David Klein said in a statement today.

The class action covers women who received silicone gel breast implants and lived anywhere in Canada, except Ontario and Quebec, on Feb. 14, 1997. The settlement follows a February 1999 accord under which Dow Corning Corp. agreed to pay $25.1 million over seven years to settle the suit.

The suit alleged that the defendants ignored results of clinical tests that indicated silicone breast implants were prone to rupture and leaks and were linked to a variety of health disorders, including cancer. The defendants made and sold the breast implants without disclosing those dangers, the statement of claim said.

Klein's press release didn't say how many women are eligible to make claims nor what injuries any of them had suffered. Klein didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bristol-Myers, Baxter and 3M settled the suit without any admission of liability, Klein said in the statement. Canadian women have until Dec. 2 to opt in our out of the settlement. The deadline for filing claims is Feb. 1, Klein said.

New York-based Bristol-Myers, the fifth-biggest U.S. drugmaker, said it didn't manufacture silicone breast implants and should not have been included in the suit. Edwards in 2002 rejected the company's request to be excluded, ruling Bristol- Myers' units Medical Engineering Corp. and Cooper Cos. were subject to the lawsuit and as a controlling shareholder, so was Bristol-Myers.

The case is Between Helen Harrington and Dow Corning Corp., Supreme Court of British Columbia, Vancouver, C954330.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Joe Schneider in Toronto at  jschneider5@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 5, 2005 12:31 EDT