Potentially defective breast implants produced by French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) have been sold in Bulgaria, local media confirmed on Saturday.

It had already been reported that as many as 4,000 Bulgarian women may have the implants.

Hungary, Russia, Belorussia, Poland and the Czech Republic are the other Eastern European states to which the potentially dangerous implants were exported, the Bulgarian BGNES news agency reports, citing company documents.

According to unofficial data, tens of thousands of women in some 65 countries across the world, mainly in Western Europe and Latin America, may have been affected by the hazardous product.

Investigations by the French Society of Plastic Surgeons last year found that PIP implants had a higher rate of rupture than other implants, that the silicone in them was not meant for medical use and that they may cause breast cancer.

The French Health Ministry recommended Friday that women with breast implants reported to contain substandard silicone should get them removed.

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