LONDON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The British government has ordered a review of safety data on French-made breast implants manufactured using industrial silicone.
Dr. Bruce Keogh, medical director of the National Health Service, directed regulators to check data from plastic surgery clinics, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The implants were made by Poly Implant Prostheses, a French company that declared bankruptcy. The company was authorized to make implants using medical silicone but was instead revealed to have begun using industrial silicone in 2001 because it is cheaper.
More than 300,000 women around the world are believed to have had the implants inserted, including 30,000 in France and 50,000 in Britain.
The French health minister, Xavier Bertrand, has recommended all women with the implants have them removed. But Bertrand says there is no evidence leaving the implants in place increases a woman's risk of cancer.
