Breast implants: France recommends removal

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The French authorities have recommended that 30,000 women have their faulty breast implants removed as a precautionary measure.

The government, which says there is no evidence of a cancer link, will cover the cost.

The implants by French firm Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) were banned last year after they were found to contain a non-medical grade silicone filler.

It is thought some 40,000 British women have the implants.

The UK medicines watchdog has said there is no need for women with PIP implants to have them removed. However, anyone with concerns should contact their surgeon or clinic.

The French health ministry said that women with PIP implants did not have a higher risk of cancer than women with implants made by other companies, but said there were "well-established risks of ruptures".

Health Minister Xavier Bertrand urged French women to have the implants removed as a "preventive measure," but said that it was not "urgent."

The corrective surgery will be paid for out of public health funds but the French state will only pay for a new implant if the treatment was done as part of reconstructive surgery following breast cancer.

Eight cases of cancer have been reported in women with the implants but the French authorities say these are not necessarily linked to faulty implants.

Implant fears: timeline

• March 2010: French authorities suspend use, marketing, distribution and export of the implants
• March 2010: The UK government agency which regulates the safety of medicines, the MHRA, advises UK doctors not to use the implants. They tell women with concerns to consult the surgeon who fitted the implants
• October 2010: MHRA says early test results show no evidence that the filler has potential to cause cancer but further testing is to be carried out by French regulators
• April 2011: MHRA says French regulators have found no evidence of genotoxicity (potential for cancer) or chemical toxicity of the filler material inside the devices

• PIP breast implants: Your stories

PIP used non-medical grade silicone believed to be made for mattresses, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS). This meant the low-cost devices were more likely to split.

Of the 30,000 fitted in France, more than 1,000 have ruptured.

PIP went into administration last year and the use of its implants was banned.

At least 250 British women are taking legal action againt the clinics that treated them.

"We would have preferred to sue PIP, obviously, but they are bankrupt so they have no money and no assets," lawyer Mark Harvey told Reuters.

More than 300,000 implants are believed to have been sold globally by PIP over the last 12 years in some 65 countries.

More than half of its exports went to South America, including to Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina and Chile. In Brazil, some 25,000 women are believed to have had the implants, the AFP news agency reports.

Western Europe was another major market. As well as the UK, Spain, Italy, Germany and Ukraine are known to have imported PIP silicon sacs.