Dear Lacneters,

I read (horrifyingly) the following research today in the Newscientist about
breast augmentation. I have snipped out a few paragraphs from the article
but the rest is to be found at
http://www.newscientist.com/dailynews/news.jsp?id=ns9999779.  Something in
the way this article is written makes me wince, I think its the way it is
all so factually written, like all women (and men I suppose) will be all
sooooooo helped with the prospect of being able to grow their own breasts!
Although I'm sure there are instances i.e. mastectomy. I don't know, just
got bit of a gut renching feeling when reading it? No mention of
breastfeeding of course, just cosmetics.
Anyway, below are a few snippets from the article.

goretjes

Sara Bernard
(lay bf counsellor intraining (Vereniging Borstvoeding Natuurlijk, The
Netherlands)


*"Breast boost
Women could soon be able to grow their own 'natural' breast implants

Tissue engineer Kevin Cronin of the Bernard O'Brien Institute of
Microsurgery in Melbourne told delegates at a recent meeting of the Royal
Australasian College of Surgeons that he has successfully grown breast and
fat tissue in rats, mice and rabbits. If the technique works in people, it
could be used for cosmetic surgery or breast reconstruction after
mastectomy.

"Tissue engineer Julia Polak from Imperial College School of Medicine in
London agrees. "In the case of someone who has already had breast cancer, it
would be difficult to ensure that the cells used to regenerate the breast
tissue did not also contain the cancer-causing genetic machinery," she
warns. "

Cronin predicts that financial backing to develop his new technology will
centre on cosmetic surgery applications.

"There is an obvious spin-off into breast augmentation and facial aesthetic
surgery," he says. "*