PIP breast implants: French court tells TUV to pay damages

Defective breast implants were sold worldwide by PIP

A French court has ordered a German safety body to pay 60m euros (£52m; $64m) in compensation to 20,000 women who received faulty breast implants.

TUV was found liable over a global scandal affecting thousands of women.

In 2010 it emerged that French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) had made implants with substandard, industrial-grade silicone. TUV Rheinland was among the bodies that had certified them.

PIP exported 80% of its implants before the firm was liquidated in the scandal.

The commercial court in Toulon, southern France, said TUV Rheinland must pay 3,000 euros to each of the 20,000 plaintiffs.

PIP's silicone gel can cause medical problems if the implants leak or erupt.

A UK report in June 2012 found that PIP implants had double the rupture rate of other implants.

The scandal affected about 300,000 women in as many as 65 countries, including France, the UK, Germany, Venezuela and Brazil.