The Implant Files
Print, Broadcast, Web
2018
Finalist
up to 12 people
In collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a team formed by the Toronto Star, CBC News and Radio-Canada exposed lax approval, regulation and oversight of Canada’s medical device industry. Among the findings: devices continued to be implanted into Canadians years after being banned elsewhere due to health risks, and blanket secrecy around the public reporting of serious medical device incidents in Canada. Since 2008, defective implants have killed 1,400 Canadians and sickened another 14,000. Health Canada has approved the marketing of breast implants that are now associated with autoimmune diseases and a rare form of cancer. This project produced a database of more than 160,000 incident reports. Dozens of news and public affairs reports almost immediately resulted in the federal government announcing a comprehensive and ambitious reform of the regulatory system governing medical implants. As well, Health Canada moved to ban textured breast implants. A join Citation of Merit was awarded to CBC/Toronto Star/Société Radio-Canada.