Jean-Claude Mas,the Frenchman who has sparked a global health scare by selling substandard breast implants,was arrested on Thursday and could be charged with manslaughter,the public prosecutor in the city of Marseille said. In the first arrests since the two-year-old scandal grabbed headlines worldwide in December,Mas and a second executive at his now defunct company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) were arrested from their homes shortly after dawn. If charged with involuntary manslaughter and causing injury,both could face longer prison terms than those they already risk in a parallel fraud case due to come to court around October. French authorities have been criticised for being slow to react to a case that has sown fear among tens of thousands of women. French inspectors ordered PIP implants off the market in March 2010,due to concerns over their quality. But only last month did officials in Paris recommend their surgical removal,drawing attention to the problem for patients worldwide who had been fitted with products from the company,which was at one time the third biggest global supplier. Lawyers for women in France who have filed complaints over PIP implants welcomed the arrests and said there must be no escaping justice for the 72-year-old Mas,who has been quoted as deriding those suing him as being motivated only by money. This is a comfort for the victims, said Laurent Gaudon,whose clients are pursuing PIP and surgeons who used its implants for fraud. Its the feeling that justice is advancing and they have not been forgotten. Its the assurance that the guilty are at last going to be held accountable. Mas and PIPs former chief executive Claude Couty were being questioned on Thursday,as police searched their homes. They were due to be moved to police custody in Marseille later,under the orders of prosecutor Jacques Dallest.
