This is huge: New Zealand has become the first country to ban vaginal mesh implants, after recent damning evidence.
Since hearing the horror stories of hundreds of women who’ve suffered pain and infection after receiving the implant surgery, we’ve learnt that Johnson and Johnson has sent its implants to market without proper clinical trials. The UK has implemented a restriction on the implants in cases of organ prolapse -- but this doesn’t go far enough.
The science is clear: according to the UK health watchdog, the risks of these implants now far outweigh the benefits. It’s time for Johnson & Johnson to do the responsible thing and pull these products until it can prove beyond reasonable doubt they’re safe for use.
Johnson & Johnson: the science is clear -- it’s time to ban the sale of these implants until you can prove they’re safe!
On Monday, BBC’s Panorama revealed that Ethicon, owned by Johnson & Johnson, failed to warn doctors about the full extent of risks posed by vaginal mesh implants. We recently learnt that a Johnson & Johnson mesh implant was launched in the US and used for a full five years-- without a clinical trial.
The corporation knew the implant had a higher failure rate than their previous two, but continued to sell it. It’s now had to pay out a record $57 million in damages to one woman.
The burden of proof should be on corporations that profit from these implants to prove they are safe for use. Right now, that’s not what’s happening. Big Pharma has lost the trust of the public -- it’s up to big corporations like Johnson & Johnson to show us it can put the women’s health before its bottom line to gain back that trust. Until Johnson & Johnson can provide that these implants are safe through proper clinical trials, they should stop all sales in the UK.
Johnson & Johnson: we can’t afford to wait any longer. It’s time to ban the sale of these implants until you show they’re safe again for use!
We've stood up to Big Pharma before -- when German pharma-giant Merck, Sharpe and Dohme was torturing horses to extract and sell their blood, over 300,000 SumOfUs members like you spoke up and helped force the corporation to back down. With people power, anything is possible.
More information
The Guardian. 12 December 2017.
The Guardian. 29 September 2017.
The Guardian. 12 December 2017.