More on those silicone breast implants

I've been surprised by the media coverage of the FDA's recent decision to allow silicone breast implants back on the market. Much of the coverage, or at least the opining that's followed, suggests that the FDA's approval means the implants are perfectly safe. This is a stretch, to say the least, given that women with the implants will need multiple and potentially disfiguring surgical procedures to keep them in longer than a couple of years.

The Center for Media and Democracy helps explain the news disparity this week by reporting that Burson-Marsteller has been working for Mentor, one of the implant makers, for about two years on the issue. BM is the same firm Dow Corning hired to help manage the fallout from its breast implant debacle.

Back in the mid-1990s, the authors of PR Watch, who now run the CMD web site, got a treasure trove of internal documents from Dow and BM, which they turned into a great article on the PR firm's role in Dow's silicone mess. Among other things, the PR strategy involved donating lots of money to breast cancer research groups and paying cancer survivors to testify before Congress on the need for reconstructive surgery options after mastectomy. (One cheeky woman took the money and then used the opportunity to complain about all the problems she'd had with her implants!) The strategy will look rather familiar to anyone who's followed the tobacco or pharmaceutical industry's tort reform efforts.