Authenticity Of CBC News Article On US Food And Drug Administration’s Decision To Challenge Banning Of Breast Implants: A Discussion Through Three Peer-reviewed Research Articles

Background

In this age of globalisation, majority of the population receives their scientific knowledge from media and associated journal reports as more than the science research article, common people have reach to these science journals (Figueira & Oliveira, 2017). However, in such situation it becomes important to determine the authenticity of these media journals as unlike science journal article that undergoes several levels of scrutiny, such news articles are written by reporter and hence, the authenticity determination becomes important (Lazer et al., 2018).

This paper discusses about one such news journal published in CBC on March 25^th 2019, that mentions that the US Food and Drug Administration along with the health ministry of USA has challenged the decision of banning the breast implants which is use for the women undergone breast cancer surgery (CBC, 2019). This decision was taken against the primary research findings that mentioned that breast cancer implants is associated with a specific and new cancerous condition, in which the scar line of the patient develops lymphoma due to which more than 450 women has developed this specific cancer condition and 12 women died in the course (CBC, 2019). However, the FDA and US healthcare ministry with 19 panellists determined that imposing bans on such breast implants would be an early move and they should wait for some more specific and direct correlation between such healthcare condition and implants (CBC, 2019). The primary aim of this paper would be assessing the authenticity of the news article in providing the public with scientific information and in the course three peer- reviewed research article would be used to determine the authenticity of it.

As the news report of CBC mentioned that the FDA and USA healthcare ministry was thinking about collecting accurate proof prior to implementing the ban on the breast implant process, several researchers provided proofs of associated risk of cancer due to silicon breast implant (CBC, 2019). The point of FDA was provided in the article by the comment of Karla Ballman, a biostatistician, involved in the panel of the FDA, who mentioned that silicon implantation is a sweetener and banning it could lead to invention of more risky substance for breast implant (CBC, 2019). Hence, the point which comes out after going through the news article is that breast implant , despite of having several risk factor, is the only intervention which could be used for patients who have undergone breast amputation after cancer surgery (CBC, 2019). However, this idea have been challenged by several research articles that with the help of primary research process has broke down the process so that the associated risk could be identified.

Discussion through peer-reviewed research articles

The first research article which should be included in the discussion mentioned that the cancerous condition associated with breast implant is divided into two segments such as anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) and Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) (Ye et al., 2014). The primary aim of this paper was to provide details of the linkage between ALCL and associated cancer in patients and for this process, more than 71 breast cancer reports with breast implants were taken for the review and all the patients had age 50 or above. Further, it was observed that the entire patient with implants had a periprosthetic fluid or the capsule and these formations were developed after 10 years of their implantation operation (Ye et al., 2014). Further, while establishing the point, the researchers were able to provide a detailed analysis as per which due to ALCL, majority of the patients who undergone implant were affected with the associated sign and symptom and hence, it could not be count as the co- incidence for all the patients as they all were suffering from the risk factor of ALCL after they undergone the breast implant process (Ye et al., 2014).  After the review of the entire patient’s condition, it was seen that the immunological reaction of implant reaction, the composition of the silicon implemented, the texture of the implant and the carcinogenic reaction it causes were assessed prior to implementing the silicone implant in patient’s body, that lead to prolonged and delayed occurrence of cancer (Ye et al., 2014). Hence, through these review of 71 patients and associated primary research it was clearly evident that the breast cancer implant and associated carcinogenic condition is the reason for caner occurrence in majority of the women around the world and hence, this ALCL lymphoma should be considered as a different disease entity and the resultant or causative agents should be banned for public use, so that the associated risk of cancer could be decreased (Ye et al., 2014). Further, the paper also provided a detailed pathophysiology and tumorogenesis condition, depending on which the silicone implant should be banned. Hence, as per the data provided in this research article, the BC news science journal was unable to provide complete and detailed analysis of both the sides properly (Figueira & Oliveira, 2017).

The second research article which should be used in the discussion is the peer reviewed review article by Schubert et al. (2014) in which the researchers reviewed the research articles that connected breast implants with lymphoma, due to which, the healthcare professionals should think prior to implant this in the patient’s body. This paper included data that after the first implant in 1962, discussion about this intervention was started. However, the government did not find any research proof to take harsh step against this intervention. In this process, the authors collected two implant samples that were used in the healthcare facilities of Germany (Schubert et al., 2014).  After labeling all the samples, the researchers conducted different tests as per which all the samples undergone tensile strength test and their surface roughness were assessed through observing their condition within the human body. After the completion of the experiment it was seen that majority of the tests were failed due to the implementation of pressure within the human body. Due to cracks and breakdown of the silicone inside the human body, occurrence of cancerous condition could be observed in patients (Schubert et al., 2014). Further, this research was able to provide details of the assessment and analyzing process due to which it was easy for healthcare professionals to determine the carcinogenic level of each implant they would implement in patient condition. Further, this research provided analyzing method, suitable coordinate condition, and after the implementation of shell properties, and proposed mapping in the research paper, it would be easy to understand the life threatening condition, these implants could lead to in patient condition (Schubert et al., 2014). Hence, it is an effective process, which should be used by the FDA government so that they could fasten the decision on banning the implant. Hence, these side of the research and assessment was not mentioned in the CBC news science article published recently, hence, this general journal organization was not able to provide an authentic and compatible science information to the general population, as they only provided the details of the FDA and USA governments thinking and neglected the research studies that already proven the carcinogenic condition of this breast implant method (Figueira & Oliveira, 2017).

Research article 1

The third research article by Alcalá et al. (2016) on the other hand provided a link between breast silicone implant and its connection to the skin of the specific body part. This research established ALCL as the seroma which is seen in the scar of breast cancer and implant. In that location, this cancer could be termed as the solid peri- implant mass however no cutaneous lesion was witnessed in the patient’s body. In this research the assessment of a 56 year old women, recently undergone breast cancer implant was conducted so that if metastasis occurred in her lesion of breast cancer condition, then it could be assessed properly (Alcalá et al., 2016). In this aspect, the research conducted several diagnostic tests in the patient such as the histopathology test, that showed a proliferation of large epithelioid lymphocytes with highly pleomorphic cells and nuclei. Further, the neoplastic cells were CD15 and CD30 positive and ALK-1 negative. Further the genetic analysis showed that the cells around the implant were regulated improperly and hence, through all these results from a breast cancer patient who recently undergone the implant operation, it was proven that the implant causes the morphological change in the nearby cells of the human body, and hence, lead to cancer occurrence in the patient (Alcalá et al., 2016). Hence, this research directly provided the evidence of association of breast cancer with silicone implants that were included in the patients undergone breast amputation. Therefore, the CBC news article was unable to provide details of such research articles that included the scientific trust and vouched for the banning of silicone implants, but they published report against the banning by terming it a sweetener, hence, as per this research as well, the news journal was unable to provide details of the scientific truth, affecting the quality of the information (Figueira & Oliveira, 2017).

While concluding the paper, it should be mentioned that in this age of fast paced information system, every news is under the fingertip of the service users, However, it is the responsibility of the news organizations, to provide the common public with scientifically accurate and authentic news so that by knowing all the information, they could decide the positives and negatives associated to it. This paper also mentioned one news article by CBC (2019) and through three peer reviewed research paper, provided the fact that the article provided only one side of the information, due to which the common readers were uninformed of the actual scenario.

References

Alcalá, R., Llombart, B., Lavernia, J., Traves, V., Guillén, C., & Sanmartín, O. (2016). Skin involvement as the first manifestation of breast implant?associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Journal of cutaneous pathology, 43(7), 602-608.

CBC. (2019). Breast implant safety revisited after new concerns in U.S. | CBC News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/breast-implants-cancer-1.5070623

Figueira, Á., & Oliveira, L. (2017). The current state of fake news: challenges and opportunities. Procedia Computer Science, 121, 817-825.

Lazer, D. M., Baum, M. A., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A. J., Greenhill, K. M., Menczer, F., … & Schudson, M. (2018). The science of fake news. Science, 359(6380), 1094-1096.

Schubert, D. W., Kaschta, J., Horch, R. E., Walter, B. L., & Daenicke, J. (2014). On the failure of silicone breast implants: new insights by mapping the mechanical properties of implant shells. Polymer International, 63(2), 172-178.

Ye, X., Shokrollahi, K., Rozen, W. M., Conyers, R., Wright, P., Kenner, L., … & Whitaker, I. S. (2014). Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) and breast implants: breaking down the evidence. Mutation Research/Reviews in Mutation Research, 762, 123-132.