By Colin Fernandez Science Correspondent For The Daily Mail
Published: 00:00 BST, 24 June 2019 | Updated: 00:00 BST, 24 June 2019
View
comments
Some 250 women who received breast implants are preparing a joint legal action over possible links to cancer.
The case is against the makers of Allergan Biocell implants – Britain’s most popular range – which have been withdrawn from sale in this country.
Allegations that breast implants can trigger cancer have been made in the UK since 2011. Now the class action case is set to bring the claims to the attention of a court.
In a separate development, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is examining whether a condition known as Breast Implant Illness should be officially recognised as a possible risk or side effect of breast augmentation surgery.
Julie Harris has helped countless women undergo breast augmentation surgery. Now she is one of 250 women preparing legal action against the makers of her own implants
Six of the women in the class action are understood to have developed anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) – a rare blood cancer that has been linked to textured implants. Others claim they were not sufficiently warned of the risks of the surgery.
Medical authorities are advising that the implants do not need to be removed. But the case will be of concern to the estimated 500,000 women who have had implants in the UK – around 3 per cent.
Julie Harris has helped countless women undergo breast augmentation surgery. Now she is one of 250 women preparing legal action against the makers of her own implants.
As a consultant nurse for two decades at the Harley Medical Group in Manchester, she sat down with hundreds of women and advised them to have implants inserted.
Mrs Harris, 57, was so confident in the technology that she underwent the procedure herself.
In 2005, she had PIP implants inserted. But when fears started to emerge in 2012 that PIP implants could leak, Mrs Harris had them removed and replaced with Allergan implants. In August last year, she was diagnosed with breast implant-acquired anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL). She has since had six
