Give It Back

It's good news for the hundreds of thousands of women, including mastectomy patients, that those who want them will soon be able to get silicone breast implants. An advisory panel convened by the Food and Drug Administration has voted 9-6 to allow the product back on the market. But the good news comes too late for Dow Corning, which was driven into bankruptcy in 1995 by thousands of lawsuits claiming that silicone implants it sold had caused an assortment of health problems such as cancer and autoimmune disorders. The company paid $3.2 billion to settle such claims.

Now that the FDA is set to declare the implants safe once more, how is Dow Corning going to get that $3.2 billion back? Perhaps, it could get back at least the portion of that sum that went straight into the pockets of Trial Lawyers Inc. Absent this, however, it at least looks like there will be some upside for the wronged company. According to the Associated Press, Dow Corning spokesman Kevin Wiggins told the Midland, Michigan, Daily News, "If the device is brought back on the market and FDA changes [its] position, I would think it would be very difficult to litigate" further claims.