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Breast Implants:the Dow Corning Scandal Essay

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Abstract

The subject of my paper will be an investigation into the manufacture of silicone breast implants by Dow Corning and what caused this scandal to become corporate crime. This subject is of special interest to me because my mother has been in litigation with Dow Corning since the late 1980's. I will use several research methods for development of this research paper. They will include researching books and the use of the internet. I believe that my findings will show that for more than thirty years Dow Corning manufactured and distributed an unsafe product with the knowledge that its recipients were being put in danger. Dow Corning then tried various evasive measures to escape from their liability. This is still a current …show more content…

The first use of silicone was as a sealant for ignition systems on aircraft in World War II (Zimmermann, 1998, p. 22). It was in Japan after World War II that a Japanese doctor first began injecting women's breasts with silicone to enlarge them. Women often complained of serious complications after silicone injections including scarring, swelling, gangrene, infections and migrations of silicone to various other parts of their body (Zimmermann, 1998, p. 23).

The beginning of Dow Corning`s fraudulent and immoral actions actually started during this time when actual silicone breast implants had not even been developed and only the injection of silicone into women's breasts was being done. In 1954, Dow Corning found that silica in silicone had a high order of toxicity and they were informed by scientist H.C. Spenser that silicone caused health problems and by scientist V.K. Rowe in 1955 that silicone spreads throughout the body and could cause organ damage (Melvin, 2003). One can see that Dow Corning knew as early as the mid-1950's that silicone could be a source of health problems and potentially unsafe, but even with that knowledge Dow Corning moved in the next stage of silicone enhancement of breasts, the actual manufacture of silicone breast implants.

In the 1960's

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