Meet the Characters of Absolutely Safe ... New Video about Breast Implant Dangers

Coming soon to Dallas!

http://breastimplantawareness.blogspot.com
www.BreastImplantAwareness.org


http://www.absolutelysafe.com/characters.html


Audrey Ciancutti

Deneé Dimiceli

Wendi Myers
Dr. Edward Melmed, MD

Dr. Franklin Rose, MD

Dr. Michael Harbut, MD, MPH, FCCP
Dr. Ernest Lykissa

John Byrne

Anne Stansell



Colleen and John Swanson

Dr. Joy Taylor

Audrey Ciancutti

“There was no negative information given to me at the time to say that
they could affect my health in any way. It was the solution and he
told me quite frankly this will last you for the rest of your
life….You’ll never have to wear a bra again in your life.”

For many years, Audrey Ciancutti has suffered from illnesses related
to her ruptured silicone breast implants. A native of Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, and mother of filmmaker Carol Ciancutti-Leyva, Audrey is
the inspiration of the documentary ABSOLUTELY SAFE. Today, despite her
illness, Audrey is an active and committed advocate for breast implant
safety.

Audrey’s relationship with silicone began in 1974, when she was
diagnosed with breast tumors and advised by her doctors to have a
double mastectomy and silicone-implant reconstruction surgery. Within
a year, Audrey’s implants had ruptured and her doctors replaced her
old implants with new silicone implants which also eventually
ruptured. In the years since her multiple ruptures, Audrey’s health
has steadily declined. Unexplained rashes, severe joint pain, chronic
fatigue, crippling arthritis, and lupus—all of these mysterious,
debilitating conditions entered Audrey’s formerly healthy life.

As Audrey learned more about silicone implants and other women who had
developed similar conditions after their ruptures, Audrey concluded
that her implants and the ruptured silicone migrating throughout her
body were making her sick.

Although Audrey’s last set of ruptured implants were removed over
twenty years ago, she continues to suffer from severe joint pain and
fatigue.

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Deneé Dimiceli

“The feeling that I’m expecting to get from that [breast implants] is
just more confidence, and to feel better in my clothes.”

“…I love Jessica Simpson, I watch MTV, and I guess maybe because it
started at such an early age, those were the people I wanted to look
like, or be like…”

Deneé Dimiceli is a healthy, vibrant, and happily married young woman
who lives in Houston, Texas. Ever since she was a teenager, however,
Deneé felt incomplete and yearned for larger breasts. Over the years,
Deneé battled her breast size insecurity with all sorts of
products--padded bras, water bras, air bras, tissue, and rubber
falsies she called “chickens.” In her twenties, Deneé began to save
money for breast implants calling it “her boob job fund.” Finally, at
the age of twenty-seven, Deneé decided to have breast augmentation
surgery.

The decision to have breast implants was not a difficult one for
Deneé, but it was difficult for her husband. Deneé’s husband T.J. had
concerns about her surgery and did not want his wife to have breast
augmentation, saying “I think they’re just fine the way they are.”

Although her husband did not fully support her decision and had
questions about implant safety, Deneé did her own research and
concluded that the risks were worth the chance to feel better about
her body. With the help of Dr. Franklin Rose, one of the most
respected and experienced board-certified plastic surgeons in Texas,
Deneé’s dream came true—she became a “a full C” with saline implants
and now “feels more like a woman.”

Today, nearly two years after her implants, Deneé remains happy and
healthy. Although Deneé did lose some sensation in her nipples and her
husband describes her breasts as “not feeling natural”, she still
believes that implant surgery was the right decision for her.

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Wendi Myers

“They feel alien to me. I don’t want them in my body. I look at them
as sacs of poison in my body.”

“I went to the original doctor and he basically told me there’s
nothing wrong with silicone and it sounded like he had given this
speech a million times before…he’s telling me it’s all in my head, and
there’s nothing wrong with silicone.”

Wendi Myers’ relationship with silicone breast implants began in the
1980s for professional reasons. Once an exotic dancer in Dallas,
Texas, Wendi realized that her career could be more successful and
lucrative if she had larger breasts.

During the late 1990s, Wendi began complaining of dizziness, fatigue,
joint pain, hair loss, and nipple discharge. Like many other women who
believe that their implants have made them sick, Wendi had been a
healthy and energetic woman before her mysterious illnesses emerged.
Wendi believes that her health problems all began when her implants
ruptured in a car accident. Although numerous doctors assured Wendi
that her implants were not ruptured and could not possibly be making
her sick, Wendi maintained that her implants were indeed ruptured and
responsible for her illness. Repeatedly, Wendi was told by doctors
that her illness “was in her head.”

In 2006, Wendi met plastic surgeon Dr. Edward Melmed, the first doctor
who acknowledged that breast implants can cause illnesss. With the
financial help of her mother and the surgical skill of Dr. Melmed,
Wendi had her implants removed in 2006. During the surgery, Dr. Melmed
discovered that both of Wendi’s silicone implants were, in fact,
severely ruptured.

Today, Wendi is a successful graphic designer and advocate of implant
education and safety. She hopes that sharing her story with the public
will help educate and inform other women about breast implants.

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Dr. Edward Melmed, MD

“They do not last. They rupture. And the longer they’re in the body
the more likely they are to rupture. The statistics are kind of scary,
because around about 50 percent are ruptured by 10 years. And when it
gets to 15 to 20 years you’re looking at almost 90 percent of implants
that are ruptured.”

“What is most worrisome is that while most of the silicone is
contained within the capsule, some of it leaks out, we don’t know
where it goes, we don’t know what it does, we have no idea.”

Edward Melmed is a board certified plastic surgeon . He has been doing
plastic surgery for almost 40 years. Dr. Melmed is certified by the
American Board of Plastic Surgery. He is also board certified in
England, Scotland, and South Africa.

Dr. Melmed is unique among board-certified plastic surgeons working in
the United States. In addition to being one of the few plastic
surgeons to publicly question implant safety, and criticize the
long-term problems and complications, Dr. Melmed is also one of the
few plastic surgeons who removes implants without replacing them. He
has demonstrated that this can be done safely and with excellent
aesthetic results.

In the early years of the silicone debate, he, like all other plastic
surgeons, did not believe that problems existed. After all, the
manufacturers told plastic surgeons that implants would last a
lifetime. In 1992 he started seeing women with problems almost all of
whom had common symptoms—severe fatigue, short-term memory loss, joint
and muscle pains, hair loss, etc. Seeing and treating women of all
ages, and all walks of life who had these symptoms in common convinced
him that there was a problem.

In the film ABSOLUTELY SAFE, Dr. Melmed maintains that implants have
three major long-term problems—rupture, encapsulation which is a
natural reaction to all foreign material, and in a certain percentage
of women, symptoms from reaction to silicone.

During the film, Dr. Melmed meets Wendi Myers, a patient who suspects
her silicone implants are ruptured and making her sick. Wendi’s
symptoms of fatigue, hair loss, and dizziness are like those of other
patients with silicone implants. Dr. Melmed removes Wend’s implants
with no replacement. In surgery, Dr. Melmed finds that Wendi’s
implants are severely ruptured.

Dr. Melmed believes that current implants have severe flaws that
worsen with time. With the reintroduction of silicone gel, the
manufacturers even agreed to recommend removal and exchange every 10
years, and MRI examinations every 2-3 years. He is extremely worried
about the future of young women who have implants when in their teens
or early twenties.

In his spare time, Dr. Melmed volunteered his time to head the Dallas
County Gang Tattoo removal program. He is always busy restoring
antique cars (he tells people his occupation is working in a body
shop) or riding his motorcycles.

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Dr. Franklin Rose, MD

“This is a safe bio-material that reputable, ethical, board certified
plastic surgeons are placing in individuals who want a well performed
operation. Every scientific study that’s done by Mayo [Clinic], by
Harvard, by the plaintiff’s attorney’s own judge shows it’s safe. It’s
a safe implant.”

Dr. Franklin Rose is one of the most experienced and respected
board-certified plastic surgeons in the United States. During his 18
year career in Houston, Texas, he has performed over 4,000 breast
augmentation surgeries.

Dr. Rose has a special interest in facial and hand procedures, breast
augmentation and reduction, and liposuction. In addition to two
research grants he received from the American Society for Aesthetic
Plastic Surgery, Dr. Rose is the recipient of several distinguished
awards from the Plastic Surgery Educational Foundation.

For Dr. Rose, his stance in the breast implant debate is clear—he
believes that breast implants, both silicone and saline, are safe
products whose safety have been repeatedly proven by studies conducted
by respected organizations such as the Mayo Clinic and Harvard
University. Although, Dr. Rose is aware that the silicone implant
controversy continues, he remains confident in their safety. Following
the FDA guidelines, Dr. Rose continues to augment women’s breasts with
both silicone and saline implants.

In the documentary ABSOLUTELY SAFE, Dr. Rose performs saline implant
surgery on his patient Deneé Dimiceli. Throughout his conversations
with filmmaker Carol Ciancutti-Leyva, Dr. Rose remains committed and
confident that implants are safe and effective.

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Dr. Michael Harbut, MD, MPH, FCCP

“I think that the science on the implants has been so discouraged from
actually being undertaken in a coherent and realistic fashion that we
really don’t know much about these devices at all.”

“The occupational medicine literature is emphatic in its opinion that
at no stage should a worker be exposed to any liquid or solid
containing any platinum salt.”

Dr. Michael Harbut is one of the most preeminent occupational and
environmental health physicians working in his field. Dr. Harbut was
awarded the “Broad Street Pump Award” from Physicians for Social
Responsibility for his work to lower the arsenic levels allowed in
American drinking water. Internationally renowned for his research
regarding the link between toxic exposures and disease, Dr. Harbut was
awarded the Selikoff Lifetime Achievement Award by the Asbestos
Disease Awareness Organization in 2007. As Co-Director at the National
Center for Vermiculite and Asbestos-Related Cancers at the Karmanos
Cancer Institute, Dr. Harbut’s team developed what is considered one
of the most important blood tests for cancer ever discovered. His
team’s groundbreaking research was published in the New England
Journal of Medicine. Additionally, Dr. Harbut has consulted for Public
Citizen, testified before the United States Senate regarding the
diagnosis and treatment of asbestosis, been invited to speak at the
Whitehouse, and been featured in author Andy Schneider’s book An Air
That Kills.

Dr. Harbut has treated over 1,000 women with breast implants and
believes that platinum and other potentially toxic heavy metals used
in the making of silicone gel and silicone shells in breast implants
can cause or contribute to serious disease and illness in breast
implant patients.

In ABSOLUTELY SAFE, we meet Dr. Harbut and one of his patients Dr. Joy
Taylor. Dr. Taylor, once a healthy, vibrant, successful, and active
woman is now seriously ill with pleurisy and respiratory disease.
According to Dr. Harbut, Joy’s illness is the result of “a clear
sensitivity or allergic reaction to silicone and/or components of
silicone” in her ruptured silicone implants.

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Dr. Ernest Lykissa

“The IOM and the manufacturers have never approached it by looking at
implants that have been taken out of women, after five years of
implantation, and studied those…that’s the difference between what I
do and what they do. I’m looking at failed devices.”

Dr. Ernest Lykissa is a forensic toxicologist with over 25 years of
experience. Dr. Lykissa’s commitment, dedication, and passion for
breast implant research is remarkable and has sparked other scientists
to enter the chemical debate about breast implant safety. Many women
with breast implants and their doctors have turned to his lab ExperTox
for chemical analysis of blood, urine, and tissue samples.

For over a decade, Dr. Lykissa and his colleagues have performed
chemical studies on failed breast implants. According to Dr. Lykissa’s
studies, breast implants leak platinum into the body and a toxic form
of platinum (a charged, oxidized form) may be the cause of the
illnesses some women with breast implants suffer.

Dr. Lykissa’s research is not without controversy, as many other
scientists have criticized the research methodology and findings.
While the IOM and the FDA have reviewed Dr. Lykissa’s studies, the FDA
maintains that the platinum research is inconclusive because the
studies were flawed. For more information on Dr. Lykissa’s platinum
research visit the “Platinum Salt Theory” section of this website.

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John Byrne
Executive Editor, Business Week

“All you have to know is one simple thing. The manufacturer never
proved that the devices were safe and effective, because they never
did the due diligence, the work that was necessary in clinical
studies, and in scientific discovery, to make that assumption, and to
make that conclusion. And that at the very base of this debate is what
has to be done.”

John Byrne is one of the most respected and accomplished business
journalists working today. As Executive Editor of Business Week
magazine, former editor-in-chief of Fast Company magazine, and veteran
writer at Business Week for nearly 18 years, Mr. Byrne has written
countless articles, cover stories, and eight books on business,
management, and leadership. His book on General Electric CEO Jack
Welsh, Jack: Straight from the Gut, was an instant bestseller.

In his acclaimed book Informed Consent, Mr. Byrne investigated the
complex story of Dow Corning and the silicone breast implant safety
controversy. Framed by the stories of Dow Corning executive
whistle-blower John Swanson and his wife Colleen Swanson, who fell
quite ill from her Dow Corning made silicone implants, Informed
Consent tells the riveting and disturbing tale of personal and
corporate crisis. Through the stories of the Swansons and extensive
research on Dow Corning, Mr. Byrne raised profound questions about
government regulation, corporate responsibility, and the very notion
of what “informed consent” means in an age of million dollar
advertising campaigns for billion dollar products like breast
implants.

Despite the Dow safety cover-up, lawsuits, silicone implant sale
restrictions, and years of FDA hearings, breast implants and the
cosmetic surgery industry as a whole have boomed over the last decade.
As Mr. Byrne explains in the film ABSOLUTELY SAFE, the conflict
between government regulation and professional ethics still taints the
breast implant safety debate. In commenting on the FDA advisory
hearing to approve silicone breast implants Mr. Byrne notes “the panel
voted nine to six in favor of silicone breast implants. Four of the
nine “yes” votes were by plastic surgeons who shouldn’t even have been
sitting on the panel because of their obvious self-interest.”

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Anne Stansell

“The doctor says you have breast cancer. You need a mastectomy, you
need radiation, you need breast implants. It’s like part of the whole
treatment. In reality I didn’t need the breast implants to get over
the cancer. But they make it seem like it was all part of the
recovery. It was a terrible thing.”

Breast cancer survivor Anne Stansell is one of the most active and
inspirational voices speaking out against breast implants today. In
addition to sharing her story and testifying at numerous FDA hearings,
Anne has also exhibited her powerful and beautiful collection of
photographs to FDA panels. Anne’s photographs document the bodies of
everyday women whose breast implants failed, causing complications,
sickness, and disfigurement.

After surviving breast cancer at the age of 39, Anne’s doctors told
her that along with her mastectomy and radiation therapy, she needed
silicone breast implants. Presented as part of the standard treatment
and not as a choice to consider, Anne trusted her doctors whom she
felt “had just saved her life.” At this time, Anne did not know that
breast cancer patients with breast implants had not been fully
studied.

Five years after getting her implants and recovering from her cancer,
Anne became very ill. Her symptoms were unrelated to her past cancer
and presented ailments she’d never experienced before. Diagnosed with
Grave’s Disease and Fibromyalgia, Anne also suffered a torn retina
from severely dry eyes.

After battling her insurance company to help with the expense of
implant removal, Anne had her implants removed two years later. Upon
ex-plantation, doctors discovered that half of one of Anne’s implants
was missing. During her FDA testimony, Anne asked “where did the
silicone go?” In the coming years, Anne found silicone in her side,
where it had eventually migrated. Like many other women, Anne’s health
improved after her implants were removed from her body.

Today, Anne leads a support group in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for
breast cancer patients who have had similar experiences with breast
implants. Anne continues to speak out against breast implant use in
cancer patients and lobbies the FDA to require more extensive research
on breast implant safety for all populations. Anne’s voice and
creative eye are an inspiration to thousands of women in the breast
implant safety debate.

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Colleen and John Swanson

“Profit. Money. These are profitable devices. People make money on
them. They want them out there. There’s a market for them.” –John
Swanson

“I said, ‘If I have to take these out myself with a razor blade,
they’re coming out.’ I said, ‘We can do this secretly. We can go
someplace where nobody knows us. Dow Corning will never have to
know.’” –Colleen Swanson

Colleen Swanson and John Swanson have been in the epicenter of the
breast implant safety debate in more ways than one. As a long-time
employee at Dow Corning Corporation, formerly one of the largest
manufacturers of silicone breast implants, John Swanson helped lead
the company’s ethics policy, and at times, was involved in the
company’s private and public defense of silicone implants. In the
midst of the heated public controversy regarding breast implant
safety, John’s wife, Colleen Swanson, privately believed that she,
like thousands of other women believed, was sick from her silicone
implants manufactured by Dow Corning.

In ABSOLUTELY SAFE, John and Colleen share their story of personal and
corporate crisis. Assured by experts at her husband’s company that
breast implants were safe, Colleen Swanson had breast implants put in
her chest in 1974. Immediately, Colleen began to suffer from
unexplained health problems. After nearly seventeen years of suffering
from mysterious symptoms associated with lupus and scleroderma,
Colleen Swanson made a radical decision regarding her implants—she
wanted them out of her body forever. As she explains in the film,
expressing her belief that her implants caused her illness risked her
marriage and John’s career. John was a company man in the company
community of Dow Corning. Colleen was adamant, however, and had her
implants ex-planted. Upon removal, Colleen’s doctor discovered two
severely ruptured implants; her rheumatologist connected all of her
symptoms to the silicone gel implant ruptures.

Faced with a “huge corporate sense of denial” and a beloved wife who
was severely ill and convinced that her implants were the cause, John
Swanson ultimately stopped towing the company line and took his wife’s
side on the issue. In 1991, after 26 years at Dow Corning and
believing that the company’s popular product—silicone breast
implants---were safe, John Swanson recused himself from participating
in the company’s decision to continue to sell silicone breast
implants.

The Swanson’s story is thoroughly told in the acclaimed book Informed
Consent by Business Week Executive Editor John Byrne. In addition to
offering the corporate context of the breast implant controversy, the
story of Colleen and John Swanson provides a revealing window into the
toll that the safety debate takes individuals, both men and women.
Ultimately, Colleen and John’s story stands as a metaphor of everyday
people---including thousands of women like Colleen and their
families—who are caught in the dangerous, confusing traffic jam of
corporate greed, health, and personal courage.

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Dr. Joy Taylor

“I was a practicing physician until two years ago. And I had to
finally go on disability because I was just not able to function any
longer on the job. I’m here because I have become very ill from my
silicone implants. I had them in when I was 30 trying to save a bad
marriage, and it didn’t work anyway.”

Dr. Joy Taylor has spent the last decade suffering from illnesses that
she and her doctors believe are caused by her ruptured silicone breast
implants. Once a healthy, vibrant, active, and successful
professional, Dr. Taylor is often too sick to get out of bed.

Ten years ago, Dr. Taylor developed severe respiratory problems and
was diagnosed with pleurisy. During a CAT scan, doctors discovered
that her breast implants were ruptured. Two years later, Dr. Taylor’s
health continued to decline and she was forced to leave her profession
because she could no longer function on the job.

Dr. Taylor’s doctor, Dr. Michael Harbut, describes Joy’s story as one
of the best examples of how implants can make women sick. As a
“bright, energetic” woman who was “engaged in life, engaged in her
profession,” Dr. Taylor had “a deeply vested interest in being able to
be active and healthy.” According to Dr. Harbut, Dr. Taylor’s health
crisis is caused by a “hypersensitivity or allergic reaction to
silicone and/or components of the silicone in Joy’s breast implants.”

Today, Dr. Taylor continues to suffer from health problems. Although
she had her ruptured implants removed, both migrated silicone and
platinum remain in her body.

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