PIP Implants Scandal Court Case Begins

Founder and senior staff of company who triggered a global health scare are on trial for aggravated fraud

The first trial over the global PIP implants (pictured) has begun today in France.

Jean-Claude Mas and four of his senior staff are standing trial for aggravated fraud, and if convicted face a jail sentence of up to five years as well as a £32,000 fine.

Mas's firm Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP), once the third biggest global supplier of breast implants, is accused of cutting costs for 10 years in order to save one million euros a year by using cheap industrial silicone unfit for human use.

In 2010 the scandal emerged after surgeons reported an abnormally high number of PIP implant ruptures. The company was closed and implants taken off the market.

This triggered a global health scare, with women being advised to have their PIP implants removed due to risk of rupture. 47,000 women in the UK had these implants, with around 900 having the operation on the NHS, mainly following mastectomies. Hundreds of women round the world are expected to give evidence at the trial.

Women involved say they have been left with lasting effects following the scandal, such as depression and anxiety. Speaking to media outlet France 3, a woman from Normandy, Dominique Terrier, said: 'The pain we went through was psychological and physical… we were mutilated, re-operated on. It's not easy to survive that after cancer.'

Here at Marie Claire we are running a campaign to prevent this kind of scandal happening ever again - to ask our government for tougher regulation on cosmetic procedures.

Our #TakeAGoodLook Campaign Demands:

• a register for practitioners and procedures • standardised information for patients • a ban on special offers and procedures as prizes • a code of practice for advertising • training courses for non-surgical procedures • fillers to be made prescription-only • a national breast implant registry • an impartial organisation to turn to when things go wrong

So please, sign our petition if you think women should be empowered, informed and safe about cosmetic procedures.

You can read our full investigation into plastic surgery in the latest issue of Marie Claire – out now.

VICTIM OF BOTCHED SURGERY URGES READERS TO SUPPORT OUR TAKE A GOOD LOOK CAMPAIGN

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