Dow Corning Makes New Implant Offer

Dow Corning Corp., emboldened by new studies that failed to prove a link between breast implants and disease, on Monday raised new obstacles to women seeking damages from the company.

Dow Corning, once the largest implant maker, made a new $2-billion settlement offer, but said it would only pay $600 million unless a court rules that the implants make people sick.

The company proposed paying $2 billion two years ago as part of an unsuccessful attempt to settle all implant claims around the world.

The stringent terms of the new offer partly reflect an accumulation of evidence that breast implants may not cause the litany of ills claimed by thousands of women, the company said. Those claims helped push Dow Corning into bankruptcy reorganization in May 1995.

“The evidence disproving a link between implants and disease has been overwhelming,” Dow Corning spokesman Michael Jackson said.

Dow Corning’s new offer is contained in a reorganization plan aimed at getting the company out of bankruptcy court.

Midland, Mich.-based Dow Corning said the plan, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, represents a “major milestone” in its efforts to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which it sought after it was unable to resolve thousands of implant lawsuits against it. About $1 billion would be paid to commercial creditors not involved in implant litigation.

Leaders of groups that oppose breast implants condemned the plan as inadequate, pointing out that when the settlement collapsed two years ago it was because thousands more women filed claims than expected.

The offer would be worth $6,666 to each of the roughly 300,000 women who received Dow Corning implants, although not every one is expected to file a claim.

The reorganization plan, including the settlement offer, requires the approval of Bankruptcy Court Judge Arthur J. Spector.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers have been wresting settlements of as much as $1 million apiece from other implant manufacturers such as Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Co. and Baxter International Inc. and won’t willingly allow a single court to demolish the value of their cases.

“We will have our own plan, and we’ll see how it all turns out in court,” said Stanley Chesley, a Cincinnati lawyer and member of the Tort Claimants Committee representing women suing Dow Corning.

About 1 million women in the United States have breast implants and thousands say they have gotten serious immune system diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus when the implants leak or rupture.

Dow Corning stopped making them in 1992 and the Food and Drug Administration has severely restricted their sale unless they can be proven safe. All the makers say they are safe but several other implant makers have offered a separate settlement that has been accepted by about 91,000 women.

Of the $2-billion breast implant fund, $600 million would be earmarked for settlements, which would allow some women with breast implants to receive quick payments without a trial. These women would have to prove to a board of trustees appointed by Dow Corning that leaking implants caused injuries such as difficulty moving their arms.

The remaining $1.4 billion would be contingent on the outcome of a trial to resolve the central legal controversy over whether breast implants cause disease.

A court-appointed panel of doctors and scientists would evaluate the conflicting studies on breast implants and give its opinion at the trial.

Scientists are still debating whether silicone breast implants really make anyone sick. Last year, the American College of Rheumatology issued a statement saying there is “no compelling evidence” that the implants put women at risk. But, early this year, a study of 10,000 women showed a slightly increased risk of illness.

Dow Corning--a partnership of Dow Chemical Corp. and Corning Inc. that still makes lubricants, industrial parts and other silicone products--had a $160-million profit in the first nine months of this year.