Breast implant protester gets meeting with minister

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Breast implant protester gets meeting with minister

MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER

Daphne on is waging an awareness campaign about

the dangers of silicone breast implants from the

cramped confines of her bachelor apartment in Burnaby.

She says she plans to protest outside the office of

Health Minister Ujhal Dosanjh against a plan by Health

Canada to approve them for use again, after they were

first banned in 1993. She says she's been suffering

health effects from her own implants, which were

finally removed in 1992.

By Grant GrangerNewsLeader Staff

Oct 14 2005

Daphne on got her audience with Canada's health

minister Monday, two weeks after she picketed Ujjal

Dosanjh's office to protest the possible approval of

silicone breast implants

After being rebuffed several times in her efforts to

meet with Dosanjh, the Burnaby resident picketed Sept.

29 in front of Health Canada's Vancouver office and

then the next day at Dosanjh's constituency office on

Fraser Street in Vancouver. The protests were timed to

coincide with a panel conference in Ottawa at the same

time to discuss applications by two companies - Inamed

and Mentor - to reintroduce silicone implants which

were banned in Canada in 1992

on had previously tried to set up meetings with

the minister through her MP, Bill Siksay

(Burnaby-). Dosanjh finally agreed to meet with

her for 10 minutes on Monday

" [Dosanjh and his wife] were telling me the reason

they didn't set up the appointment, and he apologized

for it, is because Health Canada said don't talk to

me, not to set up a meeting and not to listen to

anything I have to say, " said on. " Whether

that's a fact or not remains to be seen.

In 1974, on had silicone implants but they were

removed in 1993 after nearly two decades of severe

illnesses she believes were caused by the implants.

She also disapproves of the legal saline implants

because they have a silicone lining. on has

been campaigning hard for years against the

reintroduction of silicone implants. In previous

correspondence, Dosanjh has maintained an arm's length

position, saying it's up to Health Canada to make

those decisions

" He's still telling me it's not his position, that he

can't do anything about it and I don't buy that. I

don't buy that, " said on emphatically. " He said

Health Canada is independent and it's very difficult

to get anyone on a panel because we are in a small

country. Well, big deal. That's not acceptable.

Since she was only given 10 minutes, on gave

him a letter with specific questions and requests. She

would like an independent team of doctors to analyze

the companies' patent materials and a registry of

women who have had implants developed so they could be

consulted on the impact of proposals

Siksay, in an Oct. 4 letter to Dosanjh, asked the

minister to release a study on the health implications

of silicone implants on Canadian women commissioned in

1996 and completed in 2000 because its findings have

never been disclosed. Siksay also wants information on

the credentials and backgrounds of the experts being

used by Health Canada to look into silicone implants

to make sure they are independent of any manufacturers

on said she's willing to give Dosanjh a week or

two before seeing what happens

" They're very upset about it, I can assure you,

they're very upset about the whole issue because it's

big, " said on. " [The meeting] was just too

fast.

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