Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Through the special access program for medical devices, you have allowed surgeons to obtain 24,000 silicone gel-filled breast implants. Do you have any information about the results of those implants? You have been allowing silicone gel-filled implants through the program since 1993, so you had a whole group of people to do a long-term study on. Did you do one?
One more thing: if you did not approve gummy-bear implants, you should let that surgeon in Burlington, Ontario, know because he is publishing ads offering patients exactly what was just approved by
Health Canada:
Saline or cohesive gel-filled breast implants -- which are better?
- Both are safe and approved for use in Canada...
- Saline “mini-waterbeds”
- Gel -- “gummy bears“
Comparing breast implants to aspirin downplays their importance, and that is exactly what you did earlier. I found that very petty on your part. We are not talking about taking an aspirin to make a headache go away. We are talking about something carried inside the body that can cause much more serious problems than an aspirin. Can you explain this kind of ad, Ms. Sharma? It downplays the risks even more. It does not mention the risks associated with silicone gel-filled breast implants; instead, it says they are much safer than saline breast implants—