JOIN USA decision on whether to order the removal of the implants, produced by the Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) company, will be made by the end of the week, after a report from the National Cancer Institute on December 23.
“Today, we’re in the process of evaluating these breast implants because of the apparent cancer risk,” said government spokeswoman Valerie Pecresse.
“The government will announce its action plan between now and the end of the week,” she added in an appearance on the LCI television news network.
A health ministry official said no “causal link” between the implants and cancer had yet been established and that “there is no urgent health risk”. Quoting several senior medical officials, French newspaper Liberation reported on Tuesday that the decision had already been made and that health authorities will order the implants to be removed.
It was not clear how many foreign women have been given PIP products but the firm was once the world’s third-largest producer of silicone implants, producing 1,00,000 per year and exporting 80 per cent of its output. Liberation said 3,00,000 women around the world had received PIP implants.
PIP was shut down and its product banned last year after it was revealed to have been using non-authorised silicone gel that caused abnormally high rupture rates of its implants. Health officials said last week that eight cases of cancer, mainly breast cancer, had been reported in women who had received the PIP implants.