Verdict expected in France's PIP breast-implant trial - FRANCE - FRANCE 24
A verdict is expected on Tuesday in the trial of five managers from a French firm that sold breast implants filled with industrial-grade silicone that were prone to rupture to some 300,000 women in 65 countries.
Five former managers from the now-defunct Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP) firm are on trial at a court in southern France on aggravated fraud charges, including the firm's 74-year-old founder Jean-Claude Mas.
Prosecutors have called for the defendants to receive sentences ranging from six months to four years in prison. They have also urged the court to impose a €100,000 ($137,000) fine on Mas, who they dubbed "the sorcerer's apprentice of implants", and to ban him from working in medical services or from heading a company.
The others on trial are PIP's former general manager Claude Couty, quality control director Hannelore Font, production director Loic Gossart and research director Thierry Brinon.
More than 7,000 women have declared themselves civil plaintiffs in the case and hundreds packed the court during the April trial, which was moved to the Marseille convention centre.
Health risks disputed
The scandal first emerged in 2010 after doctors noticed that PIP's implants had unusually high rupture rates.
During a month-long trial, the defendants admitted using industrial-grade silicone but Mas denied the company's implants posed any health risks.
More than 7,500 women have reported ruptures in the implants and 15,000 have had the them replaced in France alone.
Health officials in France and other countries have said the implants are not toxic and do not increase the risk of breast cancer but have nevertheless urged their removal.
The court will not rule on the question of whether the implants pose a risk, only whether the five managers defrauded their clients as well as German safety standards firm TUV, which approved the implants for the mass market and was last month found liable in a case tried in the French city of Toulon. The court ruled that the firm had "neglected its duties" by failing to properly vet the implants.
TUV was ordered to pay more than €50 million in compensation to six distributors and to more than 1,600 women fitted with the implants.
read more
