The European Parliament’s Environment Committee is urging the EU Member States to ban direct advertising to the public for breast implants or breast implant operations, as France has done.
Since breast implants always entail risks, MEPs demand that objective, non-commercial information be provided through national public health services instead. These demands are made in a non-legislative draft resolution by Catherine STIHLER (PES, UK) on a Commission paper on breast implants .
While welcoming the Commission’s proposals, MEPs voice disappointment that they were purely advisory, i.e. not binding on the Member States. The committee says there is a need to regulate advertising in some Member States, which are fuelling the demand for implants without providing balanced information.
MEPs call for better information for patients, tracking and surveillance, quality control and research. The committee urges that details of breast implant operations be recorded by a compulsory National Breast Implant Registration system in each Member State, to enable both producers and patients to be traced.
Finally, the cost of implants should include a pre-meeting with the surgeon, clear informed discussion of the implications of having implants as well as the alternatives, a cooling-off period of no less than four to six weeks, a detailed pre-implant case history, post-counselling and periodic review.
