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Dow Corning Silicone Gel implants increase cancer
risks.
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In a routine, August 1987 inspection, the Food and Drug Administration
discovered the previously unreported results of a Dow Corning carcinogenicity
test on the silicone gel used in its implants. Injection under
the skin of rats induced a high incidence of malignant tumors.
While
Dow attempted to trivialize these findings by claiming that these
cancers were non-specific "solid state tumors," this
claim was dismissed by an FDA task force on grounds that these
cancers
were highly lethal, invaded distant organs and showed no variation
in the incidence between male and female rates.
On the basis of these findings, a senior task-force scientist
urged that a medical alert be issued to warn the public of the
possibility
of malignancy developing in humans following long-term implants
or silicone breast prostheses. A July 1994 report by a National
Cancer
Institute investigator subsequently confirmed that silicone gel
is also carcinogenic in mice.
At still higher risk of cancer are some 350,000 women with silicone
implants wrapped in industrial-grade polyurethane foam. Evidence
on the carcinogenicity of polyurethane was clearly demonstrated
in the early 1960's. Subsequent studies showed that the foam
breaks down in the breast to other carcinogens, toluene diisocyanate
(TDI)
and toluene diamine (TDA), which also induce breast cancer
in rodents. (TDA was removed from hair dyes by the cosmetic industry
in 1971
on the grounds of its carcinogenicity.)
Population studies, claimed as proof of safety by Dow and other
implant manufacturers, are too short-term and otherwise flawed
to negate
the risk of cancer in some 2 million implanted women. Indeed,
such studies would have exculpated asbestos in addition to
most other
recognized carcinogens, which have latencies extending over
three decades. The study cited most often by industry as
evidence of
implants' safety was largely funded by plastic surgeons,
who clearly have a
vested interest in breast implants.
Rather than persisting
in its egregious cover-up of the cancer risk of breast implants,
apart from recent efforts to file
for Chapter
11 to escape liability in breast-implant litigation, Dow
Corning should immediately warn all implant women of their
cancer risks,
offer to remove their implants and develop long-term cancer
surveillance at its own expense.
From Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1998 Editorial
More…
Petition for labeling
of implant hazards
Rheumatoid Arthritis
risks from silicone breast implants
CONTACT:
Samuel S. Epstein, M.D.
Chairman, Cancer Prevention Coalition
c/o University of Illinois at Chicago
School of Public Health, M/C 922
2121 W. Taylor Street
Chicago, IL 60612
epstein@uic.edu
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