(CNN) -- More than 1,000 South American women who have breast implants made by a bankrupt French company are taking legal action to get money for replacement surgery, attorneys said Tuesday.
In Venezuela, a group of more than 1,500 women who have breast implants made by Poly Implant Prostheses (PIP) have filed a lawsuit against the company's distributors, attorney Gilberto Andrea said.
And a group of 500 Argentinian women with the implants are asking for the creation of a government fund in Europe to compensate victims, according to an attorney who represents the association's president.
The PIP implants were banned last year in Europe because they were made with harmful, industrial-grade silicone and prone to rupture.
Lawyer defends silicone implants
Germany, UK weigh in on implant concern
Defective implant victims want answers
Germany, UK weigh in on implant concern
The government of France has said it will pay to replace the faulty implants of about 30,000 French women. But there is no fund established for foreigners, Paris-based attorney Arie Alimi said.
UK breast implant victims want answers
Alimi said he would request a meeting with the European Commission and the French Health Ministry on behalf of the Argentinian women.
"The first goal is to have this fund created because of the responsibility and the liability of the European Union," he said, arguing that officials there should have done more to check and regulate the implants before they were sold.
"This is the only way for Argentinian women and for all the victims in the world to be indemnified,' he said.
Alimi said he would represent Argentinian attorney Virginia Luna, the head of the organization, in a suit over the implants in France.
Meanwhile, in Venezuela, women with the implants have filed a lawsuit against distributors of the implants.
"We want these companies that sold PIP to be held responsible," said Andrea, their attorney.
Andrea said he is also asking a court to conduct an economic study to determine how much profit was made from selling the implants and require companies that made money to award his clients double that amount in reparations.
Alimi said he had spoken with Andrea about the possibility of representing the Venezuelan women in France.
"What we're asking for is that the prosthesis be removed and that a new one be implanted at no cost. And of course, we want the freedom to choose a doctor to do the implants. Some private clinics have recently offered patients with PIP implants a free removal, but they still have to pay for the cost of the new implant," Luna told CNN earlier this month.
Luna said as many as 13,500 women have the implants in Argentina.
Some legislators there are asking the government to help pay for the replacement surgery, which costs an estimated $3,500.
Germany, UK weigh in on breast implant concern
About 300,000 women in 65 countries received breast implants from the company. The implants were banned in 2010, and the company went bankrupt later that year.
The implants are not approved for use in the United States.
Authorities in France and England have dismissed fears of cancer from the implants, but have said the devices are prone to rupture and could cause inflammation, scarring and fibrosis.
That's a constant concern for Silvia Rodriguez, who got the implants in Buenos Aires in 2009.
"It makes me nervous all the time. Sometimes I feel some pain, and I don't know if it's related to the implants or not. I try to calm down, but still feel I need to do something about it. I can't wait to go back to the operating room and hear the words 'it's been done' so that the nightmare is over," Rodriguez said.
CNN's Diana Magnay and Stefan Simons contributed to this report.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 
|