PIP founder Jean-Claude Mas jailed for failing to pay bail

GlobalPost

Jean-Claude Mas, the founder of French breast implant company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) at the heart of a global health scare, was jailed on Tuesday after failing to pay his bail, Agence France Presse reported

Mas, 72, is imprisoned at Marseille's Baumette prison, according to a source who requested anonymity.

In January, he was charged with causing involuntary injuries, with a $131,000 (100,000-euro) bail, according to AFP. He is not under investigation for the more serious charge of manslaughter, Reuters reported

More from GlobalPost: Police arrest Jean-Claude Mas, owner of French breast implant company PIP

He was also banned from leaving the country and forbidden from meeting with executives of his now former company PIP, according to Reuters.

French authorities have come under fire for being slow to react to the breast implant scandal, which put tens of thousands of women with PIP implants — which were made with unapproved industrial-grade silicone gel — in danger, The Telegraph reported

French officials have said that 16 cases of breast cancer had been detected in 20 French women with the implants, though there has yet to be a proven link between the implants and the cases, AFP reported. 

Over 400,000 women in 65 countries are believed to have implants from PIP, which was the world's third-largest silicone implant producer, according to AFP.

The French government took the implants off the market in March 2010, and advised women to have them removed. Germany and the Czech Republic, among other countries, issued a similar advisory, BBC News reported

More from GlobalPost: France urges removal of PIP breast implants, but finds no cancer link

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