Breast implant scandal spreads to Tunisia

Jan 13, 2012, 13:39 GMT

Paris - The French breast implants that have triggered an international health scare, leading to recalls in several countries, were also used in operations in Tunisia, France's Le Parisien newspaper reported Friday.

Tunisian health authorities say 634 implants manufactured by Poly Implant Prothese, a French company that was discovered to have been using industrial-grade silicone in the implants, were imported between 2006 and 2010.

The Tunisian numbers represent a fraction of the around 400,000 PIP implants that were sold worldwide, mainly in Western Europe and Latin America.

But the revelation could nonetheless be prejudicial to Tunisia, which had positioned itself as a destination for plastic surgery, Le Parisien reported.

The paper reported that a number of French people have travelled to Tunisia to take advantage of lower rates for plastic surgery and other medical procedures.

Tunisia's national health agency said it was trying to locate the women who had received breast implants, in order to advise them to contact a doctor.

France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic have all advised women who received the implants to have them removed as a preventive measure.

French health authorities say they carry an unacceptably high risk of rupture, which can cause inflammation.

Some experts fear they could increase the risk of cancer but no evidence of such a link has been found so far.

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