Breast Implant Woes: Effects Of Flawed Regulation And Bad Journalism Linger After 25 Years
December 10 will mark a quarter century since a landmark in fear-mongering journalism–CBS hatchet-woman Connie Chung’s unnecessarily terrorizing thousands of women with breast implants, not to mention millions more who had other silicone-device exposures.
In a tour-de-force of unethical journalistic cherry-picking, Face to Face with Connie Chung based its sensational presentation on the experiences of only four women, whose complaints ranged from flu-like symptoms to general fatigue, mouth ulcers and an unexplained rash. Such was the challenge of trying to define a putative “silicone disease,” but nobody involved with the broadcast, least of all Chung herself, cared about precise or plausible diagnostic criteria.
In a tour-de-force of unethical journalistic cherry-picking, Face to Face with Connie Chung based its sensational presentation on the experiences of only four women, whose complaints ranged from flu-like symptoms to general fatigue, mouth ulcers and an unexplained rash. Such was the challenge of trying to define a putative “silicone disease,” but nobody involved with the broadcast, least of all Chung herself, cared about precise or plausible diagnostic criteria.