23 octobre, 2006 17:49

Furor over silicone

By TARINA WHITE -- Sun Media

The federal government's decision to license the sale of silicone gel breast implants is coming under fire from outraged former patients, but a Calgary plastic surgeon defends the product as being safe.

Lea Evans, a breast implant support group leader in Edmonton, has had two sets of silicone gel implants since 1974 and claims the synthetic product is responsible for her beleaguered health.

"I'm very, very angry and I'm very disappointed with Health Canada," Evans, 67, said yesterday about the decision to allow silicone gel breast implants in Canada. Evans blames her silicone breast implants for a litany of health issues, including Multiple Sclerosis, osteoporosis and Lupus.

Since her second set of implants were removed in the early '90s, she said she has counselled 2,500 Edmonton women who fear their health has been placed in jeopardy because of silicone gel breast implants.

"We know that these devices are not safe," said Evans.

Yet Calgary plastic surgeon Dr. Dale Birdsell applauds Health Canada's approval of what he says are new-age silicone gel breast implants.

"It's not the (same silicone) gel implant that got in trouble," he said. The latest product is made of a cohesive gel that won't leak like the banned former silicone implants, said Birdsell. "If you cut it.. it plops open just like if you were cutting into a piece of jello," he said.

Birdsell said there is no proof silicone breast implants cause adverse health effects.

"I would put these implants in my wife, my daughter, my mother," he said. On Friday, Health Canada announced it licensed the sale of silicone gel breast implants to two U.S. companies.