PIP implant response criticised

Commons Health Committee chair Stephen Dorrell said their report highlights that there is still "no definitive conclusion" on the safety of PIP implants.

A Commons Health Committee report said the communication from the government and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency was "inadequate".

New evidence in the Commons Health Committee report on PIP said surgeons have experienced "increased difficulty" in removing ruptured implants, which may mean there is a need to recommend they are taken out early.

Evidence from one of the clinics suggests women are suffering "redness and lumpy, granular tissue", and silicone in the lymph nodes in "one in four to one in five cases".

Even when implants have not ruptured, surgeons taking them out have found a "milky secretion" in 20% to 25% of cases, the report said.

Action by the Government and a health regulator to communicate with women over the PIP breast implants scandal was "inadequate", MPs said.

The Commons Health Committee pointed to a more than 20-month delay between a safety alert being issued to surgeons over the potentially faulty implants and "urgent action" to gather evidence and communicate with affected women.

Around 47,000 British women are now believed to have been given the implants manufactured by French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP).