Implant ban upheld

last updated 8 January 2015

Washington, D.C.

The Food and Drug Administration this week rejected a bid to put silicone-gel breast implants back on the market. Inamed Corp. argued that silicone implants, which have been banned since 1992, were no more dangerous than the alternative, implants filled with salt water. The company said 90 percent of patients chose silicone in countries where they had the option. But FDA officials said they still had questions about how often the devices broke and the risks of leaking silicone. “If we can put a man on the moon,” said Sybil Goldrich, a breast-cancer survivor who had trouble with broken implants, “it seems to me you could make a good breast implant.”