Canada removes all restrictions on silicone breast implants

On Friday, Health Canada (the Canadian FDA equivalent) finally weighed in on silicone Breast Implants, removing all restrictions on their use in Canada. Prior to this, the implants were available (and widely used) but required a case by case paperwork application.

"I think it's safe to say that these medical devices are the most intensively studied medical devices in medical history," said Supriya Sharma, associate director-general of the therapeutic products directorate for Health Canada. "Health Canada's licensing of a medical device does not mean the device is risk-free. Rather, it means the device has the potential to provide benefits, and the risks have been reduced as much as possible."

Hopefully, this foreshadows what should be a straight forward adoption of the 2005 FDA advisory panel recommendation that the US adopt a similar position. The US now stands alone in countries restricting access to the devices.

Canada's acknowledgment that there is general consensus of no causal relationship to auto-immune disease or cancer has predictably driven the American anti-implant activists beserk & stimulated a flurry of hysterical press releases on what they believe to be a pending "silicone holocaust". Funny thing though, you certainly see nothing on the ground in Asia, Europe, S. America, & Canada (and the US as well for that matter) to support their concerns.

tags:
Plastic Surgery
Silicone Breast
Breast Implant