Around 1,000 Dutch women have breast implants of the suspect kind made by a French company but sold under a different name, a Netherlands health official has said, broadening a scandal that could affect 300,000 or more women worldwide. Health authority spokeswoman Diane Bouhuijs said a Dutch company had bought implants made by Poly Implant Prothese, which went bankrupt in 2010 after French authorities shut its doors. It is now under investigation. They were sold rebranded as "M-implants". "We estimate 1,000 women in the Netherlands have them. We have advised them to consult their physician," Bouhuijs said. She declined to name the Dutch company. The rebranding expands the controversy in which PIP, once the world's third-largest maker, is accused of using industrial-grade instead of medical-grade silicone in some of its implants, which made them cheaper. They were sold in various European and Latin American countries. The company's founder, Jean-Claude Mas, was able to charge lower prices for the implants using the non-approved silicone.
