More on the Breast Implant Scare

Steve Milloy enters in again on the breast implant debate.

Despite the absence of science indicating that silicone breast implants cause the alleged harms, the trial lawyers were greatly aided by a bungling FDA that decided very publicly in 1992 to restrict silicone breast implants availability to U.S. women who elected to have reconstructive surgery follow mastectomy. Silicone breast implants have continued to be available without restriction to women in other countries.

The media compounded the FDA goof by reporting the agency action as a scary “ban” -- and the lawyers were off to the races. Manufacturers were hit with thousands of lawsuits, eventually deciding to settle class action claims as a matter of business and not because there was a factual basis for genuine liability.

I am not sure that I would classify this as a "goof." Given the rest of Milloy's arguments, it seems more likely that the original ban was much more a political decision than a scientific one.