Politics and Medicine - From Canada ... 2 articles ... First PURE PROPAGANDA

Author

From Canada ... 2 articles ... First PURE PROPAGANDA

Ilena Rose

2005-09-26, 5:22 pm

~~~ Thanks to Zee for these articles. The Propaganda Machines sure are
churning in Canada! ~~~
Ilena

The so-called expert quoted (Gideon Koren) in the first story is a
pediatrician! In contrast, Abby Lippman is a professor of
epidemiology
and one of the members of the Women and Health Protection Steering
Committee:
http://www.whp-apsf.ca/en/about.html

Note the language: "anti-silicone" and "militants" used to describe
those who argue for safety and transparency.

To respond to this nonsense:

Ottawa Citizen: letters@thecitizen.southam.ca

Experts insist silicone breast implants safe
Time to lift ban, stop scaring women, authority on
dangerous chemicals
says

Sharon Kirkey
The Ottawa Citizen

Monday, September 26, 2005

A leading authority on dangerous chemicals in women
says silicone breast
implants are safe and Canada should stop delaying
bringing them back on
the market.

"Voluminous" reports by independent scientists have
found no evidence that silicone gel-filled breast implants cause
lupus-like sicknesses or other serious diseases, says Dr. Gideon
Koren,
director of Motherisk at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. The
program has
counselled more than a quarter-million women on the safety and risks
of drugs and chemicals during pregnancy and while breast-feeding.

"I believe that women should have the right to choose,
especially products which were shown beyond reasonable doubt not
to cause health issues," says Dr. Koren, a professor of pediatrics and
pharmacology at the university of Toronto.

"It's such a common practice to scare women. It's a
national sport. And I don't think we should be part of this. It should
all
be based on evidence."

His comments come as a Health Canada expert advisory
panel prepares this week to let the public speak on whether to lift a
13-year partial ban on silicone breast implants, and as opponents step
up
campaigns to keep the devices off the open market.

About 40 people are scheduled to address the panel at
a downtown Ottawa hotel Thursday and Friday.

Anti-silicone groups say long-term safety questions
remain and that short-term data from company studies show high rates
of complications and ruptures.

One company, Inamed Corporation, is no longer seeking
Health Canada approval to sell one particular style of implant
because of a higher rupture rate. McGill university professor Abby
Lippman
says that raises serious questions about data from a key study Inamed
is relying on to get approval for its other implants.

"They had to eliminate people with one of these styles
of things from their own data. These guys seem to be pulling out
their data and re-analysing it, saying this group ruptured and we
don't want to count them," says Ms. Lippman, a member of Women and
Health
Protection, a
group funded by Health Canada.

Silicone gel-filled implants were voluntarily pulled
from the market in 1992 amid safety concerns and have been available
under "special access" only, meaning surgeons have to apply for
approval each time they want to
use the devices.

In a two-year period between 2003 and 2004, 9,864
silicone implants were released under special access.

On a Health Canada webpage for public input, surgeons
praise the new generation implants, which contain thicker gels, for
giving breasts a more natural "seamless" look, with less "rippling"
than saline implants.

In other submissions, a woman who had silicone
implants describes a "burning-like fire" in her chest wall. Another
woman
says scar tissue containing silicone was found "wrapped around my
ribcage to my spine" when her implant was removed. "Please do not
allow
these 'ticking time bombs' to be put back on the market," says a man
whose
wife -- who had silicone implants for 14 years -- lives with constant
daily pain and fatigue.

The expert panel will meet in private to review what
it says is
confidential commercial data from manufacturers before
deciding what
advice to give the government. Mississauga plastic
surgeon Dr. Frank
Lista says the debate on whether to bring silicone
implants back is
being "handcuffed by militant groups" opposed to their
return. He says
Health Canada has already approved silicone gel
testicular implants --
made by Mentor and from the same materials found in
silicone breast
implants.

"Why don't we hear any men's 'victims' groups in
Canada complaining about health concerns or obvious sexism," Dr. Lista
wrote in an opinion article e-mailed to CanWest News Service by a
public
relations firm working for Mentor.

In an interview, Dr. Lista, past-president of the
Canadian Society of Aesthetic (Cosmetic) Plastic Surgery, said he was
asked by Mentor to speak with reporters, but says he was not paid by
the
company to do so. Dr. Lista says silicone implants have been "the most
researched medical device ever."

A 1999 U.S. Institutes of Medicine report concluded
there's no evidence that silicone implants are toxic to humans, harm
the
immune system or increase the risk of cancers. The committee said the
most serious problems involved ruptures, infections or problems
when tissue contracts around the implant.

Inamed and Mentor have received conditional approval
to sell their
implants on the U.S. market.

C The Ottawa Citizen 2005

"Self-esteem for sale"

Montreal Gazette Sunday, September 25, 2005
Page: D8 Section: Insight
Byline: SUE MONTGOMERY
Column: Sue Montgomery
Source: The Gazette

Canadians are having a body-image crisis. We're obsessed with vaginal
reconstruction, toe shortening and breast implants - health risks or
obvious fake looks be damned. You'd think there'd be a move in Ottawa
to
help this nation, especially girls thinking they should resemble
Brittany Spears or Jennifer Lopez, to realize self-esteem can't be
bought. You'd think government might be worried about all the
health-care costs incurred when plastic surgery goes wrong. Instead, a
government-appointed panel of experts will gather Thursday to ponder
whether silicone-gel breast implants - yanked from the market 13 years
ago because of health concerns - should be allowed once again.

These plump, round pillows tended to rupture or leak, and were linked
to arthritis, vascular disease and a range of autoimmune disorders,
and
roughly 300,000 affected American and Canadian women successfully sued
Dow Corning Corp. Will the recommendations the panel gives to the
House
of Commons Standing Committee on Health place women's health ahead of
huge profits?

It's hard to have faith when already the process seems flawed, with
the
deck stacked in favour of Mentor and Inamed, manufacturers of silicone
implants, and plastic surgeons, who stand to make gazillions if
approval comes through. One panel member is Toronto plastic surgeon
Mitchell
Brown, who advertised in a Globe and Mail supplement a couple of weeks
ago for his clinic, trumpeting the use of silicone-gel breast
implants.

Brown charges between $7,000 and $8,000 for a boob job, and although
the silicone implants are supposed to be currently available under
very
strict criteria and judged by Health Canada on a case-by-case basis,
Brown seems to be doing a booming business. His website contains many
gushing testimonials from satisfied customers. They aren't women
experiencing the traumatic effects of a mastectomy- they just want
bigger, perkier breasts.

That's the case in 80 per cent of the 100,000 to 200,000 Canadian
women
with implants. Gizelle, for example, is thrilled with her Inamed
cohesive gels, style 410, medium height, full projection, 335 cc's.
"Got Canadian Boobies. Pass the Maple Syrup!" And this from Jade: "I
am from
NY, U.S.A. and I went to Toronto to have this done since cohesive gels
are not yet available in the States." Well Jade, they aren't supposed
to be widely available here, either, but in the past year, Health
Canada
has given the go-ahead in 6,000 cases. All the plastic surgeon has to
do is write a letter saying why the treatment can't be accomplished
using
a saline-filled implants, which are licensed. What does the good
doctor
say? "My patient can't get the perkiness with saline that she can with
silicone and, therefore, her self-esteem is destroyed."

That plastic surgeons are cashing in on the poor body image of women
is
bad enough, but that our government is backing them up on it, is a
crime. It's also shameful that Health Canada isn't concerned about
Brown's conflict, as well as that of two other panel members who were
paid by Inamed to provide information last spring to the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration advisory panel supporting Inamed's application for
approval in the United States.

These three men are allowed to stay on the 13-member panel because,
Health Canada says, they're able to be objective and besides, the
expert pool in this field is very small in Canada. What's the point of
having
members reveal conflict of interest if it won't be acted upon?

Last spring, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh promised "more openness,
more transparency, more accountability" in Health Canada's regulatory
oversight systems. We know and they know there's a conflict. So
where's the accountability?

smontgomery@thegazette.canwest.com
www.canada.com

Len McLaughlin

2005-09-28, 9:42 am

"Ilena Rose" <ilena.rose@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:gdkgj1p6f3a55i8ba0cggjnlliaa3vfjrk@4ax.com...
> ~~~ Thanks to Zee for these articles. The Propaganda Machines sure are
> churning in Canada! ~~~
> Ilena
>
==
Somebody's wrong here...there's no propaganda allowed in Canada. It's
against the law unless regulated by the CRTC.
-lm

> The so-called expert quoted (Gideon Koren) in the first story is a
> pediatrician! In contrast, Abby Lippman is a professor of
> epidemiology
> and one of the members of the Women and Health Protection Steering
> Committee:
> http://www.whp-apsf.ca/en/about.html
>
> Note the language: "anti-silicone" and "militants" used to describe
> those who argue for safety and transparency.
>
> To respond to this nonsense:
>
> Ottawa Citizen: letters@thecitizen.southam.ca
>
>
>
>
>
> Experts insist silicone breast implants safe
> Time to lift ban, stop scaring women, authority on
> dangerous chemicals
> says
>
> Sharon Kirkey
> The Ottawa Citizen
>
> Monday, September 26, 2005
>
> A leading authority on dangerous chemicals in women
> says silicone breast
> implants are safe and Canada should stop delaying
> bringing them back on
> the market.
>
> "Voluminous" reports by independent scientists have
> found no evidence that silicone gel-filled breast implants cause
> lupus-like sicknesses or other serious diseases, says Dr. Gideon
> Koren,
> director of Motherisk at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. The
> program has
> counselled more than a quarter-million women on the safety and risks
> of drugs and chemicals during pregnancy and while breast-feeding.
>
> "I believe that women should have the right to choose,
> especially products which were shown beyond reasonable doubt not
> to cause health issues," says Dr. Koren, a professor of pediatrics and
> pharmacology at the university of Toronto.
>
> "It's such a common practice to scare women. It's a
> national sport. And I don't think we should be part of this. It should
> all
> be based on evidence."
>
> His comments come as a Health Canada expert advisory
> panel prepares this week to let the public speak on whether to lift a
> 13-year partial ban on silicone breast implants, and as opponents step
> up
> campaigns to keep the devices off the open market.
>
> About 40 people are scheduled to address the panel at
> a downtown Ottawa hotel Thursday and Friday.
>
> Anti-silicone groups say long-term safety questions
> remain and that short-term data from company studies show high rates
> of complications and ruptures.
>
> One company, Inamed Corporation, is no longer seeking
> Health Canada approval to sell one particular style of implant
> because of a higher rupture rate. McGill university professor Abby
> Lippman
> says that raises serious questions about data from a key study Inamed
> is relying on to get approval for its other implants.
>
> "They had to eliminate people with one of these styles
> of things from their own data. These guys seem to be pulling out
> their data and re-analysing it, saying this group ruptured and we
> don't want to count them," says Ms. Lippman, a member of Women and
> Health
> Protection, a
> group funded by Health Canada.
>
> Silicone gel-filled implants were voluntarily pulled
> from the market in 1992 amid safety concerns and have been available
> under "special access" only, meaning surgeons have to apply for
> approval each time they want to
> use the devices.
>
> In a two-year period between 2003 and 2004, 9,864
> silicone implants were released under special access.
>
> On a Health Canada webpage for public input, surgeons
> praise the new generation implants, which contain thicker gels, for
> giving breasts a more natural "seamless" look, with less "rippling"
> than saline implants.
>
> In other submissions, a woman who had silicone
> implants describes a "burning-like fire" in her chest wall. Another
> woman
> says scar tissue containing silicone was found "wrapped around my
> ribcage to my spine" when her implant was removed. "Please do not
> allow
> these 'ticking time bombs' to be put back on the market," says a man
> whose
> wife -- who had silicone implants for 14 years -- lives with constant
> daily pain and fatigue.
>
> The expert panel will meet in private to review what
> it says is
> confidential commercial data from manufacturers before
> deciding what
> advice to give the government. Mississauga plastic
> surgeon Dr. Frank
> Lista says the debate on whether to bring silicone
> implants back is
> being "handcuffed by militant groups" opposed to their
> return. He says
> Health Canada has already approved silicone gel
> testicular implants --
> made by Mentor and from the same materials found in
> silicone breast
> implants.
>
> "Why don't we hear any men's 'victims' groups in
> Canada complaining about health concerns or obvious sexism," Dr. Lista
> wrote in an opinion article e-mailed to CanWest News Service by a
> public
> relations firm working for Mentor.
>
> In an interview, Dr. Lista, past-president of the
> Canadian Society of Aesthetic (Cosmetic) Plastic Surgery, said he was
> asked by Mentor to speak with reporters, but says he was not paid by
> the
> company to do so. Dr. Lista says silicone implants have been "the most
> researched medical device ever."
>
> A 1999 U.S. Institutes of Medicine report concluded
> there's no evidence that silicone implants are toxic to humans, harm
> the
> immune system or increase the risk of cancers. The committee said the
> most serious problems involved ruptures, infections or problems
> when tissue contracts around the implant.
>
> Inamed and Mentor have received conditional approval
> to sell their
> implants on the U.S. market.
>
> C The Ottawa Citizen 2005
>
>
>
>
> "Self-esteem for sale"
>
> Montreal Gazette Sunday, September 25, 2005
> Page: D8 Section: Insight
> Byline: SUE MONTGOMERY
> Column: Sue Montgomery
> Source: The Gazette
>
> Canadians are having a body-image crisis. We're obsessed with vaginal
> reconstruction, toe shortening and breast implants - health risks or
> obvious fake looks be damned. You'd think there'd be a move in Ottawa
> to
> help this nation, especially girls thinking they should resemble
> Brittany Spears or Jennifer Lopez, to realize self-esteem can't be
> bought. You'd think government might be worried about all the
> health-care costs incurred when plastic surgery goes wrong. Instead, a
> government-appointed panel of experts will gather Thursday to ponder
> whether silicone-gel breast implants - yanked from the market 13 years
> ago because of health concerns - should be allowed once again.
>
> These plump, round pillows tended to rupture or leak, and were linked
> to arthritis, vascular disease and a range of autoimmune disorders,
> and
> roughly 300,000 affected American and Canadian women successfully sued
> Dow Corning Corp. Will the recommendations the panel gives to the
> House
> of Commons Standing Committee on Health place women's health ahead of
> huge profits?
>
> It's hard to have faith when already the process seems flawed, with
> the
> deck stacked in favour of Mentor and Inamed, manufacturers of silicone
> implants, and plastic surgeons, who stand to make gazillions if
> approval comes through. One panel member is Toronto plastic surgeon
> Mitchell
> Brown, who advertised in a Globe and Mail supplement a couple of weeks
> ago for his clinic, trumpeting the use of silicone-gel breast
> implants.
>
> Brown charges between $7,000 and $8,000 for a boob job, and although
> the silicone implants are supposed to be currently available under
> very
> strict criteria and judged by Health Canada on a case-by-case basis,
> Brown seems to be doing a booming business. His website contains many
> gushing testimonials from satisfied customers. They aren't women
> experiencing the traumatic effects of a mastectomy- they just want
> bigger, perkier breasts.
>
> That's the case in 80 per cent of the 100,000 to 200,000 Canadian
> women
> with implants. Gizelle, for example, is thrilled with her Inamed
> cohesive gels, style 410, medium height, full projection, 335 cc's.
> "Got Canadian Boobies. Pass the Maple Syrup!" And this from Jade: "I
> am from
> NY, U.S.A. and I went to Toronto to have this done since cohesive gels
> are not yet available in the States." Well Jade, they aren't supposed
> to be widely available here, either, but in the past year, Health
> Canada
> has given the go-ahead in 6,000 cases. All the plastic surgeon has to
> do is write a letter saying why the treatment can't be accomplished
> using
> a saline-filled implants, which are licensed. What does the good
> doctor
> say? "My patient can't get the perkiness with saline that she can with
> silicone and, therefore, her self-esteem is destroyed."
>
> That plastic surgeons are cashing in on the poor body image of women
> is
> bad enough, but that our government is backing them up on it, is a
> crime. It's also shameful that Health Canada isn't concerned about
> Brown's conflict, as well as that of two other panel members who were
> paid by Inamed to provide information last spring to the U.S. Food and
> Drug Administration advisory panel supporting Inamed's application for
> approval in the United States.
>
> These three men are allowed to stay on the 13-member panel because,
> Health Canada says, they're able to be objective and besides, the
> expert pool in this field is very small in Canada. What's the point of
> having
> members reveal conflict of interest if it won't be acted upon?
>
> Last spring, Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh promised "more openness,
> more transparency, more accountability" in Health Canada's regulatory
> oversight systems. We know and they know there's a conflict. So
> where's the accountability?
>
> smontgomery@thegazette.canwest.com
> www.canada.com
>
>