Dispute Over Cancer Tied to Implants
When talking to patients about a rare type of cancer linked to breast implants, plastic surgeons should call it “a condition” and avoid using the words cancer, tumor, disease or malignancy, the president of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons advised members during an online seminar on Feb. 3.
The comments, by Dr. Phil Haeck, the society president, were made public on Thursday by Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, an advocacy group in Washington. The group also wrote to the Food and Drug Administration, characterizing the advice as part of a misinformation campaign devised to play down the risks of implants, and urging health officials to put a stop to it.
Dr. Haeck was traveling and not available for an interview, according to a spokesman for the plastic surgeons’ group, which issued a statement responding to Public Citizen’s claims.
The surgeons’ group said Public Citizen had taken Dr. Haeck’s remarks out of context and misconstrued them. He was discussing a possible link between the implants and anaplastic large-cell lymphoma or ALCL, a cancer that involves the immune system. [...]
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