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Dow Corning of Midland, Michigan, which dominated the market for breast
implants, will pay $3.2 billion to at least 177 000 women who claim they
were injured by the devices. Large epidemiological studies have so far found no
link between implants and disease. Plastic surgeons say that the company’s
willingness to settle, despite the lack of evidence, has created a climate of
fear. “A lot of patients who have gel implants have been waiting for the
settlement and money to get them removed,” says Ronald Iverson, a surgeon at
Stanford University in California.