Mr President, Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to thank the rapporteur, Mrs Stihler, very much for her excellent report and for the remarkably good cooperation, also on behalf of my colleague, Mrs Ria Oomen-Ruijten, who cannot be here today for an important reason, namely an investiture ceremony in the Netherlands. She sends her apologies. Breast implants are covered by the directive on medical devices. I am very pleased that the Commission – as Commissioner Byrne also explained earlier – has recently announced that it is reclassifying breast implants and is pressing for higher levels of safety for patients. Broadly speaking, the Group of the can support the Commission Communication and the report tabled by Mrs Stihler. We have to face up to the following fact in Europe: every year 160 000 women in the European Union suffer from breast cancer. It affects one in eight women. In Germany alone, that means over 50 000 women every year. Parliament is acutely aware of how topical and sensitive this issue is. In the post-operative care of breast cancer patients, breast implants are often a decisive factor in increasing their quality of life. Where breast abnormalities and surgical beauty treatments are concerned, the options available must also be explained and safety guaranteed. We are therefore calling for a number of decisive measures to be taken, above and beyond the Commission's proposals. It is essential for a minimum age to be set for cosmetic breast operations. These should not be carried out on young women under the age of 18. Operations for medical reasons would be exempt. In addition, advertising for such implants that is directed at the general public should be banned along the lines of the French model. It would then only be permitted to publish objective information in a non-commercial context. It must be guaranteed that advice and information will be provided prior to the operation by a doctor specialising in plastic surgery. We think it is vital for this meeting to take place at least four to six weeks before an appointment is agreed for the operation, so as to give the women concerned a cooling-off period to reflect on the objective and reliable information that they have received. As in other areas, more emphasis needs to be given to providing patients with information. Before the operation date is agreed, the women concerned should therefore also be given an information sheet. It is important for this to be based on the content already developed by EQUAM. It should contain both a warning about the potential health risks and also a clear appeal only to agree an operation date once all remaining questions are fully resolved. This is also the point made in the amendment that I have tabled to paragraph 9 of the report. Where silicon implants are concerned, we need high standards of safety and quality at international level. For this reason, we need cross-border registration of breast implants to be made compulsory at international level. In this context, the EU Member States should be advised to become members of the international breast implant register. The scientific research carried out over the last few years has yielded some decisive findings in this field. We therefore also think it is important to support this research and guarantee that the scientific work continues across Europe. Overall the Commission Communication, together with the amendments proposed by Parliament, constitutes an important step in the right direction. It is not a question of making it more difficult to use breast implants, for either medical or cosmetic reasons. The aim of this initiative is to guarantee the highest levels of product safety, ensure that comprehensive information is provided and ultimately to increase the quality of life of the women concerned. (Applause)

Political group: PPE-DE