Transcript - Silicone Gel Breast Implants - Fox News Chicago - January 29, 1993

Silicone Gel Breast Implant Litigation
Channel 32 News
January 29, 1993
9:00 P.M.

10:30 - 12:37

Robin Robinson: Some Chicago area women say tonight that not only have they gotten sick because of their silicone breast implants but they are afraid their children may get sick as well. Dozens of women have joined groundbreaking lawsuit filed in Cook County Court this week asking for compensation from the companies that made the implants.

Lynn (Lynn had a breast implant): I do not lead a productive life. I cannot do what, there are some days that I can't even get out of bed.

Dane Plako: Forty-four-year old Lynn of Chicago's northwest suburbs blames her sickness on the silicone breasts she had implanted after a mastectomy in 1976. Now she's joined more than 50 other women in filing suit against the companies that manufactured the implant, going back as far as the 1960's. The attorney who is handling the suit says what makes it unusual is that several of the women are suing on behalf of their children who they believe ingested silicone during breast-feeding.

Kenneth B. Moll: Therefore every child born to a woman with breast implants is bound to get a dose of the silicone gel. And it's a very serious issue when you think that second generational children are bound to have the same problems as the women.

D. Plako: The makers of the silicone implants and plastic surgeons deny any connection, saying children are exposed to silicone in any number of foods and medication. But attorney Moll says he can demonstrate that even unbroken implants can poison the body.

K. Moll: All silicone gel breast implants bleed or leak at least some portion and as you can see by this blotter, there's a presence of silicone on there.

D. Plako: Moll says he put the implant on the blotter about a week ago. Lynn says she's suing because she believes the implant manufacturers knew of the trouble, but ignored it.

Lynn: Well I'm very upset about it because for them to put something in a woman's body knowing that repercussions could happen. I mean I'm forty-four and as far as I'm concerned my entire life has changed.

D. Plako: While it's not technically a class action lawsuit other women may join in the coming months and those companies that are being sued have thirty days from now to respond. Dave Plako Fox News Chicago.