It's Alive! - More on Breast Implants

The FDA Advisory Panel voted yesterday to keep the ban on silicone breast implants, citing insufficient long-term safety data, then turned around today and approved lifting the ban, but with very strict conditions. However, silicone breast implants may be relegated to the back shelves soon, though, in favor of live self-repairing breast tissue. Since posting testimony on the blog, several people have sent links to articles about using stem cells from fat to create new replacement tissue. This month, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are publishing a study in Tissue Engineering showing that stem-cell tissue implants in mice kept their shape longer than traditional implants. Why use silicone when the real thing is available? -- Linda Glenn