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...judges accrediting scientists is controversial enough. "It's very discretionary," says Sheila Jasanoff, head of science and technology studies at Cornell University. "As a result, you're getting court-driven findings as opposed to true science." But even "true" science may sometimes not be enough to sway a jury. Dow Chemical lawyers are armed with studies by Harvard and the Mayo Clinic, assessments from the Food and Drug Administration and the American Medical Association, and testimony from respected scientists, all saying there is no evidence of a significant link between silicone and systemic disease in women with implants. Yet twice...
When a Texas surgeon put Dow Corning silicone implants in Uneeda Laitinen's breasts 25 years ago, he assured her they were not just safe but indestructible. "He said when I was dead in my grave, I'd have beautiful breasts," she recalls. But going from a 34B to a 36C seemed to bring on a plethora of problems: severe migraines, memory loss, aching joints and nerves so damaged that Laitinen was unaware that a hot skillet was searing her until she smelled burning flesh. Her cyst-riddled ovaries were removed, and she developed eight stomach tumors. "There...
...thousands of other women believe the "something else" is silicone implants. Last week a class action against Dow Chemical, a parent company of Dow Corning, moved forward when a Louisiana jury found that Dow knowingly deceived the women by hiding negative information about silicone. The trial's second phase, which is to begin this month, will take up the most crucial question of all: Can silicone implants be scientifically proved in a court of law to be the cause of these ailments? At the same time, the case will test a more philosophical issue: How compatible in court...
Trials involving science often pit expert against expert, with lawyers on each side trying to expose the scientists on the other side as charlatans or proponents of "junk" theories. In 1993, however, the Supreme Court ruled in Daubert v. Merrell Dow that judges should act as gatekeepers, assessing the validity of the experts who take their stand. "Before Daubert, judges were unwilling to prevent testifying," says Joseph Sanders, a University of Houston law professor. "Now they're more willing to exclude experts." The results are dramatic, even pivotal, in cases involving breast implants. Last year Judge Robert Jones of Oregon...
...case decided by the Louisiana jury last week, plaintiffs' attorney Dawn Barrios presented her case in layman's terms while Dow's lawyers showed up with treatises and textbooks. "You could see the jury's eyes glaze over," she says. Moreover, internal Dow memos explicitly referring to "cover-ups" and calling the marketing of the implants "inexcusable" and "right up there with the Pinto gas tank" did nothing to win sympathy for the company...