Britain expects the results of a review of breast implant safety to come this week following a global health scare focused on products from a now defunct French company, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said on Wednesday.

The British government is sticking to its advice that routine removal of implants from Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) is not required, in contrast to the guidance from the French government.

Lansley said he was concerned about the quality of data supplied by private clinics and healthcare providers but that experts should be able to give definitive advice by the end of the week to an estimated 40,000 British women fitted with the implants.

“On the basis of the evidence and the data that they have seen so far, their advice continues to be that there is no case for the routine removal of these implants because there isn’t a safety concern that would justify the risk of a surgical operation,” he told BBC radio.

“There is no evidence of a link with cancer, the toxicity tests have demonstrated to the satisfaction of the regulator that the filler in this material is not toxic.”

The French government has advised 30,000 French women who bought implants from PIP to have them removed because of concerns that they might rupture.

Once the third-biggest breast implant maker in the world, PIP went bankrupt in 2010 after an official investigation showed it was using cheaper, unapproved industrial-grade silicone in some of its products.

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Reuters