Health Canada was left in the dark for years about thousands of suspected injuries and complications related to breast implants — including multiple mentions of a rare cancer — that manufacturers failed to report, CBC News has learned.
The 5,990 incidents were submitted in bulk by breast implant makers Allergan and Johnson & Johnson’s affiliate Mentor on three dates in 2019: Jan. 14, June 26 and Nov. 7, according to CBC’s analysis of Health Canada’s medical device incidents database.
That’s 10 times more than the 594 breast implant-related reports submitted in 2018.
More than half of the new reports are suspected injuries,
