OTTAWA, April 23 (UPI) -- Canada's Supreme Court Thursday turned away a class action lawsuit against the national health agency by women who received defective breast implants.
Without giving reasons, the high court dismissed the lawsuit against Health Canada filed by two Ontario women and joined by some 29,000 other women who had Dow Corning silicone implants, the Canwest News Service reported.
The two lead plaintiffs had their implants removed in the early 1990s after reports of fatalities when the silicone sacs ruptured. The women already had received undisclosed cash settlements from Dow Corning, the report said.
The Supreme Court decision upheld an Ontario Court of Appeals ruling last year that said: "Diminished deterrence for a regulated industry is to be avoided particularly when it is the industry, and not the regulator, that holds critical knowledge regarding product safety."
