While the legal and regulatory wrangling surrounding the PIP implants scandal trundles on (see today’s News article), it must not be forgotten that major welfare failures persist on an inhuman scale:
Many thousands of women worldwide have not yet been helped to have the now banned, dangerous implants identified and removed.
The unacceptable problems faced by most of the around half a million women (and unknown number of men) who have been implanted with PIPs (or one of their rebranded variations) in around 80 countries, include:
- seeking confirmation of their having been implanted with such devices or not, and any relevant product information;
- getting confirmation as to whether their implants are intact, ruptured or leaking; and
- having their potentially toxic illegal implants removed.
In addition, public policy in certain countries (including the UK) continues to ignore — and is failing to warn adequately against — the health risks posed by these implants during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Both the ‘knowns’ and the ‘known unknowns’ associated with different batches of the industrial silicone used to fill PIPs for years, fully justified the precautionary explantation of all possibly illegal devices from the outset, given the toxic chemicals that are known to emerge from ‘leaching’ intact implants, as well as ruptured ones.
These information and healthcare needs seem fundamental, yet countless women have been completely abandoned to their fate.
This situation continues to be utterly unacceptable.
The kernel | El meollo 