Implants: Mixed O.K.

After two days of emotionally charged testimony, a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted 9 to 6 to recommend that silicone breast implants be allowed back on the market. Their sale was halted in 1992 because of concerns that leaking implants could cause serious illness. Later studies found no evidence that implants caused the myriad chronic diseases that had been attributed to them. But because of lingering concerns, the panel put conditions on their approval. The manufacturer must continue to follow patients for 10 years, it must give women coming in for implants information about scarring, ruptures and other complications, and it must advise women who get silicone implants to have annual exams to check for slow leaks. The FDA is expected to make its final decision within weeks and typically follows the lead of its advisory panels.