Platinum Found in Women With Breast Implants

[JPace]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006040601917.html

Platinum Found in Women With Breast Implants

By Marc Kaufman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, April 7, 2006; A06



Researchers have found a new reason for possible concern about the safety of silicone gel breast implants: high and potentially hazardous levels of the metal platinum in some women who had silicone implants in their bodies for many years.

With the Food and Drug Administration poised to allow silicone implants back on the market for unrestricted sale, two researchers reported this week in a journal of the American Chemical Society that they found high levels of platinum salts in the urine, hair and breast milk of 16 women with silicone gel implants.

The platinum, they concluded, was in a form that made it a potential source of severe allergic or toxic reactions. Their findings were immediately challenged by chemists associated with implant makers and are at odds with the longtime conclusions of the FDA, which has determined that the platinum used to make silicone gel implants is inactive and unable to cause harm.
(more)http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006040601917.html

[Maven]

1. Saline is the way to go.

Scary that silicone could make a comeback.

[SlipperySlope]

2. No - String Implants are Better!

They are hard to find, but a few doctors still do them despite the so-called "FDA" banning them:

http://health.howstuffworks.com/breast-implant3.htm

The neat thing about string implants is that once they are in, they CONTINUE TO GROW INDEFINITELY.

We can only hope that once Breast Implant activists get Silicone firmly back on the market, they will bring their full attention to making the FDA stop trying to intimidate the brave Doctors who still do string implants.

[JPace]

3. Saline have problems too.....

http://www.homestead.com/sosalines/index.html

The shell is made of silicone which breaks down and is suspected of causing the same auto immune
disorders as the gel. Also there are known fungus's and germs that can grow in the saline solution,
these often pass into the woman's system and cause disease. Above is a sight with much information.

[Maven]

5. I didn't say they were perfect.

The risks are FAR fewer and less severe than those attached to silicone implants.

EVERY surgery carries some risk, elective or otherwise. But the benefit to a woman's self-image and emotional health in this case can be substantial.

[Skittles]

6. that is pretty sad

that a woman would need fake body parts to improve self-image and health? They are fooling themselves.

[Maven]

7. That's a little judgmental.

It's really easy to sit here and talk about why aesthetic norms are wrong, everyone should be happy with their body image, etc. But that's not reality. In reality, people DO judge other people by how they look, there ARE aesthetic ideals, and people who are physically attractive (or at least FEEL like they look good) have somewhat easier emotional lives. (As a side note: I remember reading an article in the New York Times Magazine about the possibility of "engineering" one's child after the human genome had been completely mapped. They asked the president of MENSA whether she would change her baby to be either smarter or better-looking. She chose the latter.)

I'm not a woman and I don't know what it would be like in the position of a woman who wanted this surgery to feel better about her body. But I do know that everyone wants to feel attractive and to have more confidence about his or her appearance. There's nothing "sad" about that--it's a natural consequence of being a social creature. If there's a way to bring that about, and you want to do it for yourself, go for it.

[Skittles]

8. I would like to think there are better options

than having sicicone bags inplanted in one's chest

[beam me up scottie]

11. There are.

Teaching kids to have a positive body image is a start, especially girls.

I am alarmed at how many women are getting implants, some right out of high school.

It's one thing to have the option if you've had a mastectomy or if you're an entertainer, but why do so many young girls think their bodies aren't attractive?

I thought that this problem would have improved since I graduated but it seems to be much worse now than it's ever been.

[ClickClack]

4. I know unnatural boobs are popular (look at the Prez), but...

...I would have thought that they'd only reach Gold status, not Platinum. :eyes:

[depakid]

9. Sorry- but this is not a credible source

Especially for science articles. I've seen no less than three public health articles fron the Post that contained outright false statements of fact over the past year- inclusing one that attributed utterly ridiculous things to an "anonymous" source. You might as well be reading a tabloid.

Bottom line- if it's in the Post- don't believe it until you find independent confirmation in a trustworthy publication.

[JPace]

10. I don't think all these sources come from the Post.....

http://www.feminist.org/news/newsbyte/uswirestory.asp?id=9613

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/health/20040825-2239-breastimplants.html

http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=healthNews&storyID=11790905

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/08/26/health/main638682.shtml

http://ww3.komotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4742987

[depakid]

12. Show me some real data

and not cheap "mainstream" media stories.

Then maybe I'll be closer to persuaded.