HEALTH CARE

Type of Breast Implant Shell Cleared of Cancer Risk: The Food and Drug Administration ruling concerns polyurethane foam-covered implants filled with silicone gel, which about 110,000 women have. In 1991, a chemical in the polyurethane was linked to cancer in laboratory animals. The FDA asked manufacturer Bristol-Myers Squibb of New York to study the risk in women, and the company immediately stopped selling the implant. The FDA said the results of those studies show the risk of cancer from the chemical, called TDA, is about 1 in 1 million over a woman’s lifetime. This issue is separate from the much greater controversy over leaks from silicone-filled implants. The FDA, which has banned silicone implants, recommends that any implant that has ruptured be removed.