RCMP steps up breast implant probe -1998

[Guest guest]

Thanks Lea, . . . Maybe it's time the RCMP took

another look at this! . . . And ask why it's taking so

long to make progress! Rogene

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RCMP stepping up their investigation, and finding more

problems all the time with how the implant situation

was handled

Date: Fri, 27 Nov 1998 11:07:47 -0700

Subject: Toronto Star - RCMP steps up breast implant

probe - November 27,1998

By Eggertson - Ottawa Bureau

OTTAWA -

The RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) has beefed up

a criminal investigation into Health Canada's

regulation of breast implants and a possible cover-up,

The Star has learned.

" The investigation has been stepped up, " Corporal Marc

Richer said yesterday. " It is a serious investigation

and it will be followed through. "

Acting on a complaint from a British Columbia woman,

the RCMP assigned one investigator this spring to

determine if Health Canada met its responsibility to

make sure silicone gel breast implants were safe

before allowing them on the market.

After interviewing former Health Canada employees who

believe their superiors in the department's health

protection branch ignored warnings for years that the

implants were dangerous, the Mounties determined there

is a potential for criminal charges, Richer said.

Government employees believed their bosses ignored

warnings for years.

The safety of the implants, which Ottawa finally

banned in 1993, has been the subject of intense debate

in the medical community and among the estimated

150,000 women in Canada who had the devices inserted.

In August, the RCMP added two officers and gave its

investigative team further clout by assigning an

inspector to head up the investigation. Earlier this

month, the investigators surveyed their material and

determined there was enough substance to the

allegations to continue to investigate.

As part of their efforts, officers travelled to

British Columbia to interview the woman who laid the

original complaint. They also spoke to ,

who asked for an RCMP investigation as far back as

1990, only to be turned down by then-RCMP commissioner

Norman Inkster.

wrote to Inkster complaining that the Quebec

distributor of the Meme breast implant, Real

Laperriere was allowed to market the foam covered

devices in Canada without proof that they were safe,

as required by the Food and Drugs Act.

The investigation has also broadened beyond breast

implants into the health protection branch's

regulation of other medical devices and into the

federal government's awarding of research grants, one

source told The Star.

" The investigation is now radiating horizontally into

lobbies, it's radiating into the professional groups,

including some surgeons connected to government, " the

source said. " There are a number of other angles. "

Source: The Toronto Star, Friday, November 27, 1998