Founder of faulty breast implant company jailed in Marseille

French businessman, Jean-Claude Mas, at the centre of a worldwide breast implant health scare, headed to prison in Marseille on Tuesday night for failing to pay his bail.

Reuters/Jean-Paul Pelissier

Mas, the founder of Poly Implant Prothèse (PIP), was jailed at Marseille’s Baumette prison.

His imprisonment comes after being charged in January with causing “involuntary injuries.” He was subsequently released on a 100,000 euro bail.

PIP was shut down in 2010 after its breast implants were found to contain industrial-grade silicone.

There have been 20 known cases of cancer, 16 of which were breast cancer, among women with the implants.

An estimated 400,000 to 500,000 women in 65 countries are believed to have implants from PIP.

The French government has since advised the approximately 30,000 women in France to have their PIP implants removed, providing funding for those who received them for medical purposes.

Germany and the Czech Republic were among other governments who made similar advisories for those with the implants.

The substandard silicone was in 75 per cent of the PIP implants and saved the company approximately one million euros per year, according to an ex-executive of the company.

Mas allegedly told investigators that he used fake business data to get around health inspections.