- (The Washington Post) -- A series of studies has found
a surprisingly high suicide rate among women who have had cosmetic breast
implants, sparking a new controversy about the procedure just as the US
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) weighs whether to allow silicone gel
implants back on the American market.
-
- The latest study, published this week, found that Finnish
women who had cosmetic implants were more than three times more likely
to commit suicide than the general population - in line with findings from
similar studies in Sweden and the United States.
-
- The three studies also found that the overall death rate
for women with implants was the same or lower than for the general population,
suggesting that the implants themselves were not causing illness. But all
three found that the suicide rate was significantly, and at this point
inexplicably, higher than expected.
-
- The question of why women with implants are so much more
likely to commit suicide has become a controversial one, especially with
an FDA advisory panel preparing to consider an application by the company
Inamed to allow silicone breast implants back on the market for breast
enhancement.
-
- The FDA restricted their use to mastectomy patients and
women in clinical trials in 1992 after concerns arose about their safety.
-
- Joseph McLaughlin, lead investigator on the Finnish study,
published in the Annals of Plastic Surgery, said the data did not prove
a cause-and-effect connection between implants and suicide, and the high
rate may be related to the nature of women who chose to have implants.
-
- The Finnish study reported on 2166 women, some of whom
had the implants as long as 30 years ago. It was conducted by the private
International Epidemiology Institute of Rockville in Maryland, and funded
by Dow Corning Co, a former manufacturer of silicone breast implants.
-
- Dow Corning also funded the Swedish study, which examined
3521 women with implants and also found a suicide rate about three times
above normal. The US study was done by the National Cancer Institute.
-
- Diana Zuckerman, president of the National Centre for
Policy Research for Women & Families and a longtime critic of cosmetic
breast implants, said that although it remains unclear why the suicide
rates are high, it is significant that they are.
-
- "Tripling the risk of suicide is a shocking finding
- growing evidence that the 'cure' might be worse than the problem it is
supposed to solve," she said.
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- Copyright © 2003. The Sydney Morning Herald.
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- http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/03/1064988410569.html
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