Thank you.
Hello, Mr. Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for your interest in the creation of a breast implant registry.
I'm a patient advocate with lived experience of unknowingly having recalled breast implants. Recently, long-time women's advocate Anne Rochon Ford, who is now retired, sent me her files, which she saved over decades. Reading through them, I felt disheartened, frustrated and angry because we're still fighting for the same safety issues today as they were back then in the early 1990s. The questions and concerns have been present for a long time. The fears of the risk of cancer have come true.
We shouldn't still have to fight so hard for safety and tracking measures for devices that carry Health Canada's highest risk rating and have known serious issues, ranging from device failures to localized complications, impacts of silicone migration, autoimmune systemic illnesses, and now a known link to cancer, deaths and recalls.
In 2004, a bill to establish a breast implant registry was introduced in the House. How different the situation would be if that had occurred. The result has been wasted decades, leaving Canadians with having to give consent without a clear understanding of the risks they're taking on.
Health Canada licensed breast implants despite having no long-term safety data, without a protocol of care in place and with no one keeping track. Over decades, we have seen that industry claims of safety and incidence of harm have been misrepresented. Implanting class 4 medical devices without keeping track demonstrates disregard for patient safety.
Those profiting from breast implants have deflected responsibility for tracking them. Continuing to do nothing simply isn't an option. It's not fair that the Canadian public continues to be sold devices when concerns about them are not being systematically tracked, researched and evaluated.
I strongly support the establishment of a public mandatory registry. This will assist in post-marketing research and create a system to help contact people if needed.
Many implantations are done in private for-profit clinics and increasingly through medical tourism. It's important that physicians be required to register the implantations done in Canada and that people who received implants elsewhere can register themselves. CIHR should be funded to undertake this project.
Since the 2019 recall of textured implants linked to BIA-ALCL, many affected Canadians are still unaware of the recall. This is unacceptable. Implant wearers of previous decades were similarly unaware of recalls. It has resulted in unnecessary harm and lives lost.
Canadians with breast implants bear the consequences of inadequate oversight without device tracking. Nobody should ever be unaware that a device implanted within them has been recalled or carries a safety warning.
A registry is but one part of the solution. We need directed research dollars to answer the myriad questions that people's experiences with silicone have raised. There are many questions that need answering. This is not a role for the industry, given its history and its obvious conflict of interest.
We hope this time a registry will be created and public research on breast implants will be funded. It will save lives and prevent illness. We are at a time parallel to the 1990s moratorium. If there is no resolve at this point for creating a breast implant registry, then perhaps it's time to hit the pause button and withdraw breast implants from the Canadian market until a registry is created.
Thank you.