“We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives,” a Komen statement said.

The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the charity had adopted criteria excluding Planned Parenthood from grants due to it being under government investigation – a fishing expedition launched in Congress at the urging of anti-abortion groups.

After three days of virulent criticism flooding the Internet and jeopardizing Komen’s iconic image, the charity said it would change the criteria “to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.”

“We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants,” the statement said.

Many of Komen’s affiliates openly rebelled against the decision to cut the funding, which totaled $680,000 in 2011. Additionally, Komen was flooded with negative comments via emails, Twitter and Facebook – many of the messages indicating that donations to Komen will cease due to the decision.

The Komen decision triggered an outpouring of support for Planned Parenthood, who reported incoming donations surpassing $3 million since the story broke. Planned Parenthood has pledged to use the funds to maintain and expand its breast health services.

On Thursday, Komen held a news conference in response to the erupted controversy, and denied that its decision was driven by pressure from anti-abortion groups.

“We don’t base our funding decisions … on whether one side or the other will be pleased,” said Komen’s founder and CEO, Nancy Brinker.

While initially Komen had based the decision to bar grants to organizations under investigation, Brinker insisted that additional factors, such as changes in the types of breast-health providers it wanted to support, were involved.

A source at Komen’s headquarters in Dallas with direct knowledge of decision-making gave a different account. The source said the new policies were established with the intention of deliberately targeting Planned Parenthood. According to the source, who wished to remain anonymity for fear of repercussions, a driving force behind the move was Karen Handel. Handel was hired as vice president for public policy by Komen last year after losing a campaign for governor in Georgia in which she stressed her anti-abortion views and frequently condemned Planned Parenthood.

In an interview with MSNBC, Brinker said Handel didn’t have a significant role in the policy change.

[ washingtontimes.com via The Associated Press ]

Mas’s company created an international health scare with thousands of women who have received the implants fearing their implants could leak. Speaking out for the first time since the scandal erupted in December, Mas acknowledged that he had used unapproved silicone for the 300,000+ implants sold around the world, yet scoffed at the idea that it posed a health risk.

PIP closed down in March 2010 after health officials discovered the company using a non-medical grade silicone in the implants. A worldwide panic started last month when the French government advised women with the implants to have them removed due to possibilities of rupture and leakage into the body.

Though the implants were pulled from the market in several countries, European governments have taken different positions regarding the health risk. German, Czech and French authorities say the implants should be removed, while Britain says there is not enough evidence to suggest that the implants be taken out in all cases.

According to estimates, more than 42,000 women in Britain received the implants, over 30,000 in France, 9,000 in Australia, 4,000 in Italy, and nearly 25,000 were sold in Brazil.

The implants are not approved for use in the United States.

[ From: thesun.co.uk ]

It’s not surprising that breast augmentation has become one of the top cosmetic surgery procedures for over a decade, but what’s interesting is that the procedure growth rate has been virtually recession proof for the past 20 years.

“There’s a reason that breast augmentation has been the number one cosmetic surgery—not just here in the U.S., but worldwide—for so long now,” said Dr. Brown. “As the high rate of patient satisfaction shows, this is a procedure that works. I hope this infographic serves as a helpful reference going forward, not only for other plastic surgeons, but for patients as well.”

[ From: drdonaldbrown.com ]

[ NJ.Com ]

In support of their position they cite statistics from the board which show that transgendered women who are denied implants are much more likely to commit suicide. The difference is staggering – in the overall population of Sweden, the suicide rate is about 1.6%; for transgendered women denied implants, it is 30-40%.

[ truthdive ]

According to Vania Santos, Director of Latineuro.com, “This trend is perhaps going to increase with the explosion and expansion internet dating site and social networks. Here women get to see themselves in pictures and that will just add more self scrutiny as women size themselves up and compare themselves to other women’s dating profiles. Breast implants look great when women wear clothes and provide a very dramatic look to a females figure”.

[ San Francisco Chronicle ]

photo: EBbra

No folks, this is not an infomercial. The Emergency Bra is real – and it could save your life if faced with nuclear disaster.

Dr. Elena Bodnar won the 2009 Ig Nobel Public Health Prize for the Emergency Bra, an invention that doubles as a stylish bra and face mask. In the event of a disaster, simply unsnap the bra, separate the cups, slip one over your head, and slip one on to your partner.

The bra, which is now available for purchase online, came as a result of Bodnar studying the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Bodnar found that “if people had had cheap, readily available gas masks in the first hours after the disaster… they may have avoided breathing in Iodine-131, which causes radiation,” reported Fox News.

“You have to be prepared all the time, at any place, at any moment, and practically every woman wears a bra,” she said.

Despite all the seriousness, Bodnar remained light-hearted in the video below of her Ig Nobel prize acceptance speech by removing her bra and demonstrating how the device works on fellow Nobel laureates:

And if you don’t feel like watching the whole speech, I believe the following quote sums up just how genius this invention is:

“Ladies and gentlemen, isn’t that wonderful that women have two breasts, not just one? We can save not only our own life, but also the life of a man of our choice next to us.”

Smart woman, eh?

[ From: salon.com ]

This is not the first time the 51-year-old plastic surgery addict has given her young daughter an inappropriate gift. Last year, Poppy received a voucher for breast augmentation from her mother, redeemable at age 18 if she chooses.

“I put the voucher in her stocking – there’s nothing wrong with that,” Burge said.

“She asks for surgery all the time. She wants to look good and lipo is one of those procedures that will always come in handy. I see these vouchers as investing in her future – like saving money for her education.”

Burge gets angry when strangers say she’s a bad mother, since she believes there is no harm in giving her these types of gifts.

“Poppy is a normal kid who is good at sports and loves playing outside. Girls don’t want Snow White and Cinderella any more,” she’s said.

“They want to be WAGs and famous like Cheryl Cole and Lady Gaga. I’m just supporting her and making her dreams come true. Looks are a big part of how our futures pan out – there shouldn’t be a stigma around wanting to look good.”

I agree that there should not be a stigma around wanting to look good, but discussing plastic surgery at age 7 crosses a bit of a line. What happened to just wanting a pony for Christmas?

[ From: dailymail.co.uk ]

Venezuela’s Health Minister Eugenia Sader said women with implants made by the now-defunct French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) can visit plastic surgery-equipped hospitals to have the implants removed. The free procedure will be to remove the implants, but will not include replacing them, Sader announced Tuesday.

Health officials in France have recommended women with PIP implants to get them replaced, and have also recently agreed to pay for surgeries. In Brazil and Argentina, however, only checkups are being recommended.

According to Dr. Marisol Graterol, president of the Venezuelan Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, an estimated 35,000 to 40,000 women in the country have breast enlargement surgery each year. It’s unclear how many of these women have the PIP implants, but doctors say that the French implants used to be used widely until sales of PIP implants were halted in Venezuela in April 2010.

Plastic surgery societies are recommending that women with PIP breast implants see a doctor to have them checked. Graterol said doctors should evaluate each patient’s individual situation to make a decision whether or not the implants need to be removed.

[ From: sfgate.com ]