It’s done, all over. Closing remarks from the defence attorney have asked for a lighter sentence than the four years demanded by prosecutors for Jean Cluade Mas, boss of Poly Implant Protheses.
Mas, speaking in court to his four co-accused, said he regretted “the manner in which PIP had to wind up.” He went on to say that “a large percentage of the victims had NuSil gel (which is made by a California company which can be used in medical applications) in their implants.”
Then, demonstrating his ongoing state of denial, Mas reiterated that the gel used by his company was “not toxic or dangerous.”
Supporting this view Mas’s lawyer Yves Haddad said; “You see that all the tests say that they are not at all dangerous”, referring to results of independent tests he furnished to the court.
“About 50 tests were conducted between 2002 until 2008. I am not saying this to defend Mr Mas, I am saying this for you,” Haddad said, referring to the victims.
News of the faulty implants in 2011 sparked fears worldwide, but health officials in various countries have said they were not toxic and did not increase the risk of breast cancer.
More than 4,000 women have reported ruptures in the implants and in France alone 15,000 have had the PIP implants replaced.
Hundreds of the victims, as well as some 300 lawyers, attended the trial in the southern port city of Marseille, near PIP’s former headquarters. They are now going to have to wait an inexplicable seven months before knowing the fate of Monsieur Mas and his chums.
published: May 17, 2013 in: News, Plastic/Reconstructive