Thanks for the mammary

Well, you know, it was the end of another year and I could not resist the pun.

I sent a letter on this subject to the Straits Times. It is written in a light-hearted manner although the message is a serious one, and I don't think it is going to be published.

So it goes here, with several edits as I do not need to worry about a 400-word limit:

Two Straits Times stories inspired this: faulty silicone breast implants and toxic milk.

It now appears that no one is exactly sure how many sub-standard implants had been used as the Dutch believe that implants banned in France could have been re-branded and used in the Netherlands.

If a British newspaper is to be believed, a staggering 25,000 British women a year have breast implants. Of these, only a small proportion is done as reconstructive surgery post mastectomies (due to breast cancer).

Most breast implants were done ("made", "performed", "inserted"?) purely for cosmetic reasons. Of course some people think that breast augmentation could enhance their careers in modelling, acting, and other media or non-media work.

Should I feel sorry for the women who now face a life sentence of not knowing what may hit them next (like a Damoclean sword), or that they had their breasts augmented in the first place (ie without medical reason to do so)?

Some may suggest that it is just sour grapes on my part (pun originally unintended, but I'm leaving it in), that I am just jealous of women who fill out those T-shirts a bit better than I who have a triple-A rating … in the chest department. "Frontally-challenged" is the phrase I've just coined. :-)

We have yet another tragic episode of contaminated Chinese milk.

When mothers breastfeed they need only concern themselves with their own nutrition. They know what goes into their milk.

In my case it was very clear that onions gave our baby colic. Ginger, on the other had, had a positive effect. So I had ginger with everything, and avoided onions like the plague.

Not so when we buy milk off the shelf.

These stories remind me (hence "memory") that:

(1) “breast is best” for babies, and thanks to my late mother for bothering, and

(2) the safest breasts are our natural unadulterated ones, whatever (less than ideal) shape or size they might be. Look after them.

Look after them well to keep them cancer-free.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and good health!

Update 3/1/2012: See also If a vanity breast job goes wrong, that’s just tough (NB: NHS - National Health Service is completely FREE at point of service)