High platinum levels linked to implants
Researchers say they found high levels of platinum in the bodies of women who have had silicon breast implants for years.
The platinum salts found in the women's urine, hair and breast milk was in a dangerous form likely to cause allergic or toxic reactions, the Washington Post reported. The study was published in Analytical Chemistry, a journal of the American Chemical Society.
The findings have been published while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers lifting restrictions on the sale of silicone implants.
Some chemists attacked the study.
Michael Brook of McMaster University in Ontario said the authors, Ernest Lykissa and Susan Maharaj, reported finding an unstable form of platinum that has never before been detected in the human body. Brook has been a consultant to Imamed, a manufacturer of implants.
"Because that finding seems so questionable, it's hard to know how to read other findings presented," Brook said.
Copyright 2006 by United Press International
