US woman wins compensation in breast implant case

A jury in Reno, Nevada, has awarded a total of $14.1m (pounds sterling9.3m) to a woman who claimed that leaking silicone from breast implants had caused her intense injury and debilitation. The case was against the chemical giant Dow Chemical, the parent company of Dow Corning, which manufactured the implants. This is the first case in which Dow Chemical has been held liable for its daughter company's actions, but, with 13000 cases pending in which Dow Chemical is the defendant or codefendant, it is unlikely to be the last.

The woman, Charlotte Mahlum, and her husband, Marvin, were awarded $4.1m (pounds sterling2.7m) in compensatory damages; a second award was also made of …