London - A lawyer representing women who say silicone breast implants made them ill yesterday challenged the findings of a new study casting doubt on their claims. Mr Russell Levy insisted the research by doctors in Sweden was flawed and inconclusive. "It is irresponsible to leap to conclusions based on just one small study," the solicitor said.
Mr Levy represents 450 British women seeking compensation from implant manufacturers. They suffer symptoms ranging from chronic fatigue and muscular pain to serious and potentially disabling or fatal rheumatic diseases.
The Swedish study compared more than 7,000 women with breast implants with more than 3,000 who had undergone breast reduction surgery. Dr Olef Nyren and colleagues from the Department of Medical Epidemiology at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, found no meaningful link between breast implants and "connective tissue" diseases.