UK launches inquiry into safety of PIP breast implants

The UK government has launched a rapid review into the safety of a particular make of breast implants from France to try to reassure the 40 000 women in the country who have the implants. The French government has already announced that it will pay for the 30 000 women there who had the implants made by Poly Implant Prosthèse (PIP) to have them removed as a preventive measure (BMJ 2011;343:d8329, 29 Dec, doi:10.1136/bmj.d8329).

PIP went into administration last year, and use of its implants was banned amid worries that non-medical grade silicone had been used to make them.

Concerns emerged last month in the French media after it was claimed that the implants were linked to cases of cancer. Although …