Nearly 150 Bulgarian women have rushed to remove potentially faulty silicone breast implants supplied by Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) following the example set by the ladies in France.

"About 1,500 pairs of breast implants produced by French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) have been used by the surgeons in Bulgaria," Dimitar Evstatiev, national plastic surgery consultant announced on Tuesday.

"It is up to the patients to decide whether to remove the implants in advance and some 145 of them have already done so," he added.

The Bulgarian expert said the French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) is the only one to blame since after initially meeting the requirements, it started using silicone in them was not meant for medical use. As a result the PIP implants had a higher rate of rupture than other implants and may cause breast cancer.

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.

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

The UK government ruled out routine removal, saying there was "no evidence" of a safety concern.

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