Further Evidence That Breast Implants Are Safe

Anew study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, though inconclusive, can be taken as reinforcing the view that breast implant products are generally safe, and is further ammunition for Bristol-Myers Squibb in its legal dispute with aggrieved implant patients.

The new study is expected to lead to more women opting to join the existing breast implant class action settlement program, which provides cash payments (ranging from $10,000 to $250,000) to implantees who have certain illnesses over a 15-year duration. The settlement applies to women who had implants manufactured by B-MS, Baxter Healthcare, McGhan Medical and 3M.

The study found that women with implants are 24% more likely to self-report connective tissue diseases than women who had never had a breast implant. However, Charles Hennekens of Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women's Hospital and his colleagues note that "the data from this large, retrospective cohort study are compatible with previous recent reports from two other cohort studies that provide reassuring evidence against a large hazard of breast implants on connective tissue diseases."