Warnings over children"s health as recycled e-waste comes back as plastic toys

Flame retardants used in plastics in a wide range of electronic products is putting the health of children exposed to them at risk, according to a new report (pdf).

Brominated flame-retarding chemicals have been associated with lower mental, psychomotor and IQ development, poorer attention spans and decreases in memory and processing speed, according to the peer-reviewed study by the campaign group CHEM Trust.

“The brain development of future generations is at stake,” says Dr Michael Warhurst, CHEM Trust’s director. “We need EU regulators to phase out groups of chemicals of concern, rather than slowly restricting one chemical at a time. We cannot continue to gamble with our children’s health.”

The issue poses questions about recycled products that have been imported from countries with less robust recycling rules, such as China.

In 2014 China generated 3.2bn tonnes of industrial solid waste, of which 2bn tonnes was recycled, recovered, incinerated or reused, according to a study in Nature. But concerns about its waste treatment standards were heightened by the discovery of some of the highest concentrations of PBDE chemicals (a group of brominated flame retardants) ever recorded in the food chain near the country’s e-waste recycling plants in the same year.

A trend towards using plastic parts instead of metals in electrical and electronic goods is also causing a headache for the circular economy because so many plastics use toxic flame retardants.

One 2015 study (pdf) found significant traces of two potentially hormone-altering brominated flame retardants in 43% of 21 children’s toys surveyed, including toy robots, hockey sticks and finger skateboards. The substances are often found in the recycled plastics first used in electronic products.

Last month the European commission moved to restrict the use of one such substance, DecaBDE, but also allowed exemptions for spare car parts and aviation, and longer deferral periods for recycled materials containing the substance.

A subsequent European Environmental Bureau report called on the commission to limit the amount of hazardous materials in circulation and ensure the appropriate decontamination of hazardous waste before recovery.

At high doses persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as DecaBDE may have carcinogenic (pdf) effects and environmentalists have protested to the commission (pdf) about their potential reuse. POPs can accumulate in living bodies and be transported far from their places of origin by atmospheric circulation and ocean currents.

The Arctic, for example, has experienced a huge build up of POPs even though they are not produced there, with Innuit peoples in Nunavut recording extraordinarily high chemical concentrations in their bloodstreams.

That poses concerns for health professionals but also for European businesses. Under EU law companies must remove and send listed POPs to high-temperature incineration plants where they can be turned into salts and waters. However, this removes a plastic waste stream from revenue-generating recycling materials, making it more costly and difficult to meet recycling obligations.

Plastics in electrical goods may be safely incinerated en masse when disposed of by responsible hazardous-waste disposal centres.

But environmentalists argue that EU regulations allow the collection and recycling of material containing dangerously high levels of POPs, while information about chemical toxicity is not properly passed along the whole product lifecycle.

The substances may still be found in imported products that have been recycled in countries like China, according to Professor Olaf Wirth of the Okopol Institute, who has advised the German federal environment agency.

“Many big name toy-makers produce in China and don’t have a problem as they tell the producers what to do and what is forbidden in the EU,” says Wirth. “If you just buy something on the market because you like the design then you may bring products into the EU that contain substances that are not allowed.”

Wirth is sympathetic to environmentalists and firefighters who question the need for flame retardants in most electrical products, although national regulations often require them.

Philip Morton, the outgoing CEO of Repic, the UK’s largest e-waste producer compliance scheme, told the Guardian that handling POPs is “the next big thing” for manufacturers.

“Whereas steel is just steel, plastic is not just plastic,” says Morton. “There are a number of different grades and additives that should be on everyone’s radar. More things will soon start appearing on the ‘POP list’ and that has the potential to become very difficult [for industry].”

The commission is expected to bring forward an amendment of its POP regulation later this year, to update producer obligations. Meanwhile designers are in an ongoing race to turn out product models that are well labelled, easily dissembled and simple to recycle.

“Going forward there will have to be stronger connections between manufacturers and the designers of their products as it’s a closed loop and producers putting these products on the market will ultimately pay for recycling at the end of a product’s life,” says Morton.

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Warnings over children"s health as recycled e-waste comes back as plastic toys

Is Brexit really to blame for the decline in plastic surgery? | Tim Dowling

Almost exactly a year ago I visited a Harley Street address, notebook in hand, to interview a plastic surgeon, a number of his staff and a few of his satisfied clients. The story was simple: business was good. The place was high-ceilinged and expensively decorated. In the UK the number of cosmetic surgical procedures had increased to record levels, by a whopping 13% year on year, in line with a decade-long upward trend.

What a difference a year makes. Figures just released by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps) show that procedures actually dropped by 40% in 2016. A total of 31,000 cosmetic surgeries were performed in the UK last year, fewer than in 2007. It’s one of those statistics that seems to indicate – in contrast to all the other evidence – that sometime last year people started to see sense.

In a press statement Baaps cited several possible explanations for the decline, from uncertainty surrounding the EU referendum to “global fragility”. It’s also been suggested that larger cultural forces – mainly Instagram – have left us with less rigid ideas about beauty.

The thing about such a surprising reversal is that no one knows exactly what’s behind it. It makes sense that in times of upheaval people are reluctant to make life-changing decisions or commit to big purchases, but there was no corresponding drop in first-time mortgages or foreign holidays. It’s true that more people are opting for non-surgical cosmetic procedures, which are cheaper and less invasive, but that’s been the case for some time.

I’d love to believe that the public has begun to seen the light regarding the often illusory benefits of cosmetic surgery, but if I had to guess I’d say it was plastic surgeons themselves who are driving this shift. Non-surgical procedures are cheaper for them too, and they can do lots more of them. The practice I visited last year had already thoroughly diversified into Botox, thread-lifting, and proprietorial anti-ageing ointments.

Non-surgical clients require no hospital stay, and they have to keep coming back because the treatments wear off. Plastic surgery remains risky, and comes with tiresome ethical obligations on the part of the surgeon. It’s estimated that about half of plastic surgeons turn away 10% of all patients, and that one in five surgeons turns away a third. You don’t have to tell a patient they may be having Botox for the wrong reasons.

‘I arrived to find that two freezer cabinets had been moved to the spot where the newspapers used to be.’ Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Corner shop chaos

The other day I went to buy milk and a newspaper from the corner shop. I’ve done the same thing every day, at roughly the same time, for about 15 years, more or less on autopilot.. On this occasion I arrived to find that two freezer cabinets had been moved to the spot where the newspapers used to be. I like to think of myself as a rational and perceptive being, quick to adapt to small adjustments in my immediate surroundings, but that doesn’t quite square with my behaviour in this instance: I stared at the freezers in total incomprehension for about 20 seconds, my jaw hanging open.

The first conclusion I drew was that I’d walked into the wrong shop, or maybe a different universe. It wasn’t until another customer came in and experienced the same bafflement alongside me that I figured out what was going on. I found the newspapers on another shelf, bought one and left, forgetting the milk.

Dumb and dumberer

I spent the rest of that day appraising the world around me with renewed suspicion, which made me realise how important it is to have one’s environment disrupted from time to time; if you don’t notice something is amiss, chances are you won’t notice anything. I wish I could say this heightened sense of awareness stayed with me, but I went back to the shop the next day and performed the whole dumbshow of stupidity all over again, although I did at least remember the milk. It’s amazing we’re allowed to drive.

Is Brexit really to blame for the decline in plastic surgery? | Tim Dowling

Plastic substitutes and other breakthroughs from 25 years of green chemistry

This year, green chemistry celebrates its 25th birthday. The science of finding more sustainable and less toxic chemicals was once a revolutionary idea, but has since become a part of the consumer product landscape. From removing carcinogens from furniture to banning ineffective antibacterial chemicals, the struggle to create a healthier and more sustainable chemical landscape continues to attract widespread attention.

Customers – and companies – are taking note. A recent survey estimates that the global market for green chemicals is on track to grow from $ 11bn in 2015 to $ 100bn in 2020. In North America, the numbers are expected to go from $ 3bn to $ 20bn in the same period.

As green chemistry prepares to enter its next quarter century, we asked some pioneers in the field to tell us about some of its most important advancements. Here’s what they told us.

Petroleum made in a lab?

Martin Mulvihill, co-founder and former director of the Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry and co-founder of Safer Made, a venture capital fund that invests in the latest green chemistry technologies.

“One of the most influential trends has been the move to bio-based feedstocks for chemistry. Historically, chemistry has relied on petroleum based products, which means that we have to extract petroleum from the ground, transport it and process it. As the recent problems with fracking show, that’s expensive and environmentally damaging.

“When we’re done with these products, they don’t biodegrade; instead, they pile up in landfills and in the ocean. It’s interesting that people think that our leftover plastic and other products are just going to disappear: fossils fuels are the remains of organic matter that have managed to stay around for millions of years. What makes us think that [plastics] are going to go away just because we’re done with them?

“Scientists have begun using microorganisms to biosynthesize materials, which means that, rather than using chemicals that come from oil, we’re growing our chemicals in the lab. In the future, it’s entirely possible that the basic building blocks of our chemistry will come from biomass, including food and crop waste. In other words, this biotechnology revolution will help us use our waste to make new materials.

“This is one of the most exciting new areas of chemistry, and it provides us with an opportunity to design safer and more sustainable chemicals. Companies like Amyris, BioAmber and Elevance are already commercializing this process, and the next generation of chemists are already beginning to reach for biosynthesized materials, rather than petroleum based ones. It’s a vast change, and it’s transforming the way we develop and manufacture products.”

A BPA-free future

David Levine is the co-founder and CEO of the American Sustainable Business Council, a coalition of business organizations dedicated to building a more sustainable, less toxic economy.

“The biggest advancement in green chemistry has been a shift in consciousness and practice. The public has become aware of the need for and value of green chemistry and companies have become aware of the economic opportunities that it offers – as well as the danger of not taking advantage of them, which the 2015 report by the American Sustainable Business Council, GC3 and Trucost demonstrate.

“Nalgene’s bottle recall in 2008 is a perfect example. The presence of BPA in plastic bottles became a major media story and captured the public’s interest. The public demanded action on numerous products, from baby bottles to the water bottles that college students were toting around. Within a year, many companies were changing their production to cut BPA out of their products. And those that didn’t watched their reputations – and their market share – evaporate.

“Today, you walk into every store and see ‘BPA free’ products on the shelves. There are new plants, new advertising, new products. Consumers are demanding products without hazardous chemicals, companies are realizing that they can be responsible, innovate and improve their profits, and regulators and legislators are realizing that they can provide more comprehensive regulations. Green chemistry is providing an opportunity for a stronger economy and a healthier society.”

Breathing new life into greenhouse gases

Libby Bernick is senior vice president, North America for Trucost, a research firm that measures the way that companies use natural resources.

“One of the biggest advancements in green chemistry is the growth in manufacturers that are starting to use pollution as a raw material for making their products.

“This is incredibly significant: according to the World Economic Forum, the biggest risk currently facing our society is its failure to mitigate or adapt to climate change. We’re continuing to produce greenhouse gases such as methane and carbon dioxide, which are leading to further climate change that will, in turn, have massive financial implications for the economy.

“But there’s another approach that we can take. Instead of looking at methane and carbon dioxide as an inevitable byproduct of manufacturing, companies like Novomer and Newlight are seeing it as an opportunity. They’re using it to make new products: Newlight makes a price-competitive plastic, and Novomer makes chemicals that can be used to produce anything from diapers to paints. In so doing, both companies are creating new markets and new economic opportunities.”

Letting nature do the heavy lifting

Larry Weiss is the chief medical officer at AOBiome, which develops bacteria-based hygiene products. He also founded CleanWell, which uses botanical chemicals in its disinfectants.

“The biggest advancement in green chemistry has been a shift in our relationship to chemicals. Rather than figuring out which chemical to use, we’re figuring out how to use fewer chemicals – or none at all.

“The recent ban on triclosan, an antibacterial chemical, is a perfect example. Since the 1970s, the FDA has been questioning triclosan’s use in consumer products, but real change didn’t start until 2010, when the Natural Resources Defense Council sued the FDA [and forced] them to issue a final rule. That year, the FDA stated that triclosan was no better than soap and water at preventing infections, and that it may even contribute to antibiotic resistance.

“Since then, awareness has grown. And now, after years of litigation, the FDA has ruled that, within a year, no company can market antibacterial soap that contains triclosan, tricarbon and several other chemicals. We have decided to stop using a chemical that was marketed as a value-add, but which actually had negative effects.

“Our entire economic architecture is designed to create needs and then fill them. But what if we designed products with positive long term effects? What if our chemistry was focused on making health a primary design parameter, so that our products slowly made us healthier over time? That’s the challenge – and the greatest advance – of green chemistry.

“We’re slowly becoming aware that, rather than experiencing better living through chemistry, we might have better living with less chemistry.”

Plastic substitutes and other breakthroughs from 25 years of green chemistry

France Is the First Country to Ban All Plastic Dishware

France leads the way by being the first country to initiate a widespread ban on plastic dishware.  This is the country’s most recent effort to reduce pollution and be more environmental friendly.

France will ban the sales of single-use plastic plates and cups unless the products are made of bio-sourced materials that can be composted in a domestic composting unit.

France Initiates Ban on Plastic Dishware

The Europe Ecologie-Greens Party initially proposed the ban.  French lawmakers approved the ban on plastic dishware in an effort to reduce the energy consumed and waste produced by the plastic processing industry.  The new law is also one more attempt to reduce the pollution caused by plastic litter.

Initially, ecologists wanted this ban of plastic dishware to be introduced as soon as 2017.  However, it was postponed until 2020 because of Environment Minister Segolene Royal’s initial opposition to the law.  Royal considers the ban an “anti-social” measure — arguing that families who struggle financially regularly use disposable plastic tableware.

Opposition to France’s New Law

Though France’s new measure took effect last month, producers have until 2020 to make certain that all disposable dishes sold in France are made of biologically sourced materials and can be composted.

Ecologists’ organizations praise the new French law and hope it sets an example for other countries.

On the other hand, opponents argue that banning products hurt consumers — even if such products are made of plastic.  Those who oppose the French ban on plastic dishware also claim such measures violate European Union rules on free movement of goods.

Resisting France’s Ban

Pack2Go Europe, a Brussels-based organization representing European packaging manufacturers, is concerned that the French ban could carry over into other countries.  They say they will keep fighting this new French ruling.

According to a report by the Associated Press, Pack2Go Europe secretary-general Eamonn Bates told the multinational nonprofit news agency, “We are urging the European Commission to do the right thing and to take legal action against France for infringing European law.  If they don’t, we will.”

Bates argues there’s no proof that bio-sourced disposable cutlery is more environmentally beneficial.  He also claims that no products made from bio-sourced plastics will degrade in a domestic composting unit.

Bates added, the ban “will be understood by consumers to mean that it is OK to leave this packaging behind in the countryside after use because it’s easily bio-degradable in nature. That’s nonsense!  It may even make the litter problem worse.”

In July, France banned plastic bags — an environmentally conscious move other countries have also made.  But France is the first country to expand these types of bans to plastic dishware.

France Is the First Country to Ban All Plastic Dishware

Plastic surgery is not only about seems to be people"s wellbeing is at stake | Patrick Strudwick

John Harm as The Elephant Man (1980). Photograph: Allstar/BrooksFilm/Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

The well being secretary, Jeremy Hunt, whose knowledge of medicine stretches virtually as far as David Cameron’s information of jellied eels, would like NHS surgeons to end performing “purely cosmetic perform” on sufferers. He hence faces a encounter-off with facial surgeons – for they know, as I do, that there is no this kind of point. Cosmetic surgery, like racism, is by no means purely skin deep. 1 wonders of course no matter whether the prolonged checklist of Conservative MPs with financial interests in personal health, which feasts on unregulated cosmetic perform, may have applied stress right here, but let us be charitable and presume Hunt is capable of “purely” independent considered, devoid of agenda. He is right to highlight the financial pressures on our overall health service. Nevertheless, like an idiot on a sun bed, he grasps short-term gain in denial of lengthy-term harm.

I have twice lain in hospital while NHS surgeons took to my encounter – paid for completely by taxpayers. The 1st event I was 18, two years soon after I went to my GP and told her my protruding ears, sticking out at 90 degrees, have been troubling me. I was struggling from depression and, what I now know to be body dysmorphia, and had been obtaining counselling given that I was 14 to deal with these. Psychotherapy has limits. I know this due to the fact soon after four many years of it I nevertheless could not stomach my look, and right after one particular easy process, and a fetching week-lengthy turban bandage, I felt transformed. No single event in my daily life has so boosted my self-esteem. My connection with my reflection grew to become manageable, even positive at times. I did not want additional therapy to be able to cope with mirrors. How considerably may possibly that have saved the NHS in cognitive behavioural treatment or psychodynamic psychotherapy?

On the 2nd occasion, two many years later on, I had been brutally attacked in my house by burglars who beat me to a blood-soaked pulp (realising I was gay fuelled their violence), a single wound from which was my teeth cutting via the left side of my encounter. At A&ampE they could have simply grabbed a passing doctor to sew me up, but instead they recommended I return the following day when a plastic surgeon would be on duty. He did a stunning task, bringing the two flaps of my cheek collectively with skilled precision. Now when I look in the mirror I can’t see a victim, and I can’t see the detest my attackers attempted to brand on to my encounter. Again I would urge Hunt to believe of the lengthy-term cost savings in NHS psychotherapy. He does at least acknowledge “there will be times when there is a psychological overall health require” for NHS cosmetic surgery. As this kind of, far more men and women need to be supplied it, not fewer.

Final month I went to Ethiopia with the film actor John Hurt, famed for his function in The Elephant Man – about the egregiously disfigured Joseph Merrick – to report on the perform of a British charity called Undertaking Harar. Every yr it sends a crew of NHS surgeons – for the duration of their yearly depart – to Addis Ababa to carry out operations on younger people with severe facial disfigurements. These can be cleft palates, grapefruit-sized tumours, noma (holes in the encounter from a bacteria prompted by malnutrition), or scarring from animal attacks. I anticipated to be most horrified by the extreme distortions and protrusions. What struck me, and my companion who is the charity’s patron, however, was the visceral isolation emanating from patients. Young children have been shunned for currently being diverse, for getting deformed, kept within as it brings “shame” on the loved ones, locked out from schools, denied friends, sometimes sent into the wilderness, believed to be demonic.

When I clasped the hand of one particular young woman who had had a large tumour removed from her cheek, she squeezed my fingers with this kind of cautious excitement, and then with such relief to merely be touched by an additional human becoming that it reminded me, starkly, after once more that there is no such thing as “purely” cosmetic, skin deep. Our appears, judged now much more than ever, and in the west even much more so, matter just as our bodily well being does. And to deny this, to deny the social, psychological, even economic implications (excellent-hunting folks earn more) of our faces is to be blinded by the resulting impact on our health and welfare solutions. The unsightly actuality, Mr Hunt, is staring you, and all of us, in the face.

Plastic surgery is not only about seems to be people"s wellbeing is at stake | Patrick Strudwick

Plastic surgeon"s profession in tatters following transsexual patient falsely claims he botched ear operation

“I’m going to see you dog, f****** c***. You’ve deformed me for lifestyle.”

^{Dr. Brian Mayou founded the Cadogan Clinic in Belgravia}

Charles also talked about Dr Mayou’s wife and daughters, calling 1 of his ladies a “pig” and a “slut” and branding the surgeon a “kiddie fiddler.”

The medical doctor was also forced to apply for fifty on the web posts to be eliminated from three different sites, which contained material this kind of as: “He is a paedophile and demands to be locked up.”

The former advisor and honorary lecturer at Guys and St. Thomas’ Hospital, who was the plastic surgeon who initial launched liposuction to the United kingdom, now has the complaint completely on his Common Health-related Council record.

“There have been a number of forms of threats over a long period of time,” magistrate Mrs Nicola Leach advised Charles. “The threats have impacted Dr Mayou’s family, occupation, track record and earnings. The impact is unimaginable.”

Charles made the unfounded allegations during a two-and-a-half 12 months campaign, resulting in the surgeon’s appropriate to perform at South Kensington’s private Cromwell Hospital currently being withdrawn.

Charles, Cowbridge Road East, Cardiff, of pleaded guilty to harassing Dr Mayou between December sixteen, 2010 and May possibly 16, last 12 months by sending many unwanted insulting messages and was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment, suspended for two many years.

“This surgeon, who has pressed these charges, has induced me so a lot pain and distress,” Charles informed the court. “If you knew the full story and what this man has completed to me you would be shocked.”

Charles was also ordered to pay out £2,500 compensation to the surgeon, £150 fees an £80 victim surcharge and was made topic to a 9-month drug rehabilitation necessity.

Charles was arrested when arriving in the Uk at Bristol Airport on July 22, final 12 months, after a journey to the continent.

In his victim impact statement Dr Mayou explained the abuse gave him sleepless nights and patients had cancelled surgical procedure as a end result of Charles’ on the internet rants.

“He has carried out a social media campaign towards me and the clinic,” stated the surgeon. “Sufferers have cancelled as a direct outcome of the posts.”

Charles’ lawyer Miss Julie Stanhope advised the court: “My client suffers a large-degree of self-hatred and in his early thirties decided to handle his gender issues.

“The very first stage was surgery on his ears by Dr Mayou and he accepts the behaviour the physician endured was extreme and unacceptable.”

Charles has because had facial reconstruction surgical treatment and breast augmentation.

He previously jumped bail right after telling the court: “I am halfway through a intercourse-change and sending me to a male penitentiary would be sexual abuse.”

Plastic surgeon"s profession in tatters following transsexual patient falsely claims he botched ear operation

Sick youngster on a drip was forced to rest on plastic hospital chairs

The child, from Southampton, Hants, was rushed to hospital by ambulance at twelve.30pm on Friday after his temperature soared.

He had been to the hospital just a couple of days earlier amid fears that he was suffering from meningitis.

On that occasion, doctors carried out exams which ruled the deadly disease out. He was alternatively diagnosed with a viral infection.

But Callum was later re-admitted and located to have a blood infection.

He was provided a bed in the emergency division and remained in one when he was moved to a professional paediatric ward.

But he was wheeled to an evaluation ward at 4.30pm and taken off the bed.

Mrs Giles, 29, explained she was advised by nurses to sit on the blue chairs till a correct bed grew to become available.

She grew to become so frustrated soon after creating repeated requests for a bed that she ended up creating a makeshift a single herself with the two chairs.

Safety worker Mr Giles, 34, said: “The care we received at the hospital was definitely appalling.

“Callum was rushed to accident and emergency in an ambulance with a large temperature and blood infection.

“To be left lying across two plastic chairs in this day and age is unacceptable.

“The bad lad was so hot he was sticking to the plastic and discovered it extremely unpleasant. He was restless and unable to rest.

“How can you anticipate a boy of that age to remain seated for six hours.

“We asked if he could lie on a fold-up camp-bed that mothers and fathers use when they stay in hospital with their youngsters.

“But we were advised they did not have sides like a standard hospital bed and using them would breach overall health and security principles because he may well roll off.

“That is ridiculous since the chairs he was lying on did not have sides either – and had been much less appropriate.”

The father-of-7 added: “A two-12 months-previous must not be left connected to a drip without a proper bed in this state.

“We intend to complain and want an apology.”

Callum was ultimately given a bed at ten.30pm and was discharged the next afternoon.

He has been provided antibiotics and is producing a excellent recovery.

Mrs Giles, a childcare worker, explained: “I consider what took place is disgusting. He obtained quite poor care.

“We want an apology but also a modify in the way they treat people since it is just not very good enough.”

A hospital spokesman mentioned they had been not aware of any complaint by Mr and Mrs Giles.

But he said they were sorry to hear the loved ones were unhappy with the care their son obtained.

He extra: “We would be satisfied to go over any factor of Callum’s therapy with his mother and father directly and investigate any remaining worries they have to ensure we offer you them

comprehensive reassurance about our processes and procedures.”

Sick youngster on a drip was forced to rest on plastic hospital chairs

Uk plastic surgical treatment statistics 2013: which are the most well-liked?

More than 50,000 cosmetic surgery procedures were performed in the UK last year, according to the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons. Photograph: amana productions inc/Getty Images/amana images RF

Suck in, declares the latest audit from the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps), for 2013 recorded a 41% rise in liposuction procedures.

According to Baaps, there were 50,122 surgical procedures performed in 2013 – a rise of 17% on average since 2012. The association represents one in three cosmetic surgeons in the UK.

The audit which highlights an “impressive double-digit rise in all cosmetic procedures”, reports that not a single individual procedure saw a decrease on the year – a trend it claims has not been seen since pre-recession.

Breast augmentation (otherwise known as ‘boob jobs’) remained the most popular procedure overall. Denis Campbell writes today:

Demand [for cosmetic surgery] grew despite the scandal over potentially hazardous PIP breast implants and grew by levels unseen since before the recession began in 2008.

Breast enlargement remains the most popular procedure, with 11,135 augmentations performed in 2013 – up 13% year-on-year – according to figures collected by the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS).

But the biggest increase on the year was for liposuction. A total of 4,326 liposuction procedures were performed last year – an increase of 41% on the year. It was the sixth most popular procedure among women and the fourth most popular among men.

The Baaps credit the rise in liposuction with a possible backlash against non-surgical treatments for body contouring, claiming that patients may have found these “less effective than advertised.” Rajiv Grover, consultant plastic surgeon and president of the Bapps said:

The continued double digit rise of cosmetic surgery underlines the fact that whether it is breast augmentation or antiageing procedures like facelifting the public are choosing tried and tested surgical methods rather than the magical-sounding quick fixes that fail to deliver promised results.

The Baaps data does not include non-surgical “lunchtime” plastic procedures, such as botox injections.

According to the review of the regulation of cosmetic interventions by the Department of Health in 2013, the value of UK cosmetic procedures was worth £2.3bn in 2010 and is estimated to rise to £3.6bn by 2015. The report also stated that non-surgical procedures account for nine out of ten procedures and 75% of the market value.

Although the Baaps figures only include surgical procedures, these still provide an interesting insight into cosmetic surgery trends. We’ve picked out some of the key numbers from its 2013 audit below.

Women

In the UK, women accounted for 90.5% of all cosmetic procedures in 2013 with a total of 45,365 procedures.

Breast augmentation was the most popular with 11,123 surgical procedures carried out in 2013 – a rise of 13% on the previous year. Blepharoplasty (eyelid ops) were the second most popular cosmetic procedure followed by face or neck lifts in third place.

Liposuction procedures saw the biggest increase – 3,772 procedures were performed in 2013 (an increase of 43% since 2012). Although none of the top ten surgical procedures for women recorded a decrease, some did see a slight decline in popularity; abdominoplasty dropped from sixth most popular in 2012 to seventh in 2013 and fat transfer procedures have dropped from seventh place to eighth.

Men

Men had 9.5% of all cosmetic procedures in 2013 with a total of 4,757 in total – a rise of 16% on 2012.

Rhinoplasty was the most popular with 1,037 surgical procedures carried out last year. Eyelid ops were the second most popular procedure for men in 2013, followed by breast reduction.

Liposuction procedures saw the biggest rise with a 28% increase on 2012. 554 men opted for liposuction last year according to the Bapps data. Although none of the top ten surgical procedures for men saw a decrease in numbers, otoplasty (ear correction) dropped from fourth most popular procedure for more men to fifth.

The downloadable spreadsheet has the Bapps data going back to 2008.

Plastic surgery statistics, UK

Source: Baaps

Type of procedure	Sex	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Breast augmentation	Men & Women	8449	8565	9430	10015	9854	11135
Blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery)	Men & Women	5130	5443	5779	6057	6829	7808
Face/Neck Lift	Men & Women	4547	4241	4756	4968	5660	6380
Breast Reduction	Men & Women	3845	4703	4207	5291	4859	5476
Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)	Men & Women	3638	3403	3147	3375	2989	3466
Liposuction	Men & Women	3249	3509	3369	3581	3071	4326
Rhinoplasty	Men & Women	3065	3836	4207	4518	4180	4878
Fat transfer	Men & Women				2551	2882	3302
Otoplasty (ear correction)	Men & Women	1260	1349	1114	1170	1066	1213
Brow lifts	Men & Women	1004	1433	1513	1543	1812	2138
ALL PROCEDURES	Men & Women	34187	36482	38274	43069	43172	50122
Breast augmentation	Women	8449	8537	9418	10003	9843	11123
Blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery)	Women	4520	4827	5127	5373	6071	6921
Face/Neck Lift	Women	4355	4005	4493	4700	5324	6016
Breast Reduction	Women	3522	4122	4218	4501	4217	4680
Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)	Women	3526	3268	3039	3251	2882	3343
Liposuction	Women	2770	3010	2896	3070	2638	3772
Rhinoplasty	Women	2367	2959	3214	3475	3228	3841
Fat transfer	Women				2331	2641	3037
Otoplasty (ear correction)	Women	752	807	618	649	563	670
Brow lifts	Women	932	1324	1390	1418	1663	1962
ALL PROCEDURES	Women	31183	32859	34413	38771	39070	45365
Breast augmentation	Men	0	28	0	12	11	12
Blepharoplasty (eyelid surgery)	Men	610	616	652	684	758	887
Face/Neck Lift	Men	192	236	263	268	306	364
Breast Reduction	Men	323	581	741	790	642	796
Abdominoplasty (tummy tuck)	Men	112	135	108	124	107	123
Liposuction	Men	479	499	473	511	433	554
Rhinoplasty	Men	698	877	993	1043	952	1037
Fat transfer	Men				220	241	265
Otoplasty (ear correction)	Men	508	542	496	521	503	543
Brow lifts	Men	72	109	123	125	149	176
Other	Men	10	0	12
ALL PROCEDURES	Men	3004	3623	3861	4298	4102	4757

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Uk plastic surgical treatment statistics 2013: which are the most well-liked?

Sinister side of the plastic surgeon"s knife

At about 7am, the 53-12 months-old, who previously worked for Asprey, the royal jewellers, reportedly grew to become aggressive, tearing at her hair, ripping off her gown and fleeing the recovery space for the roof by means of the stairs of the building’s leading five floors.

As police flocked to the scene and roped off the street under, Ms D’Auriol is mentioned to have walked along the edge of the constructing as if it were a tight-rope, prior to sitting down and dangling her legs above the ledge. Close by, somebody was filming with a mobile cellphone and later on uploaded the footage to YouTube.

Her family said they believed a “post-operative neurobehavioural disturbance” was to blame. “Sandra’s daughters really feel that awareness of the hazards of post-operative psychosis when planning for surgery involving full anaesthesia could help others keep away from a related tragedy,” they explained.

Without a doubt, study published in the European Journal of Plastic Surgery in 2008 concluded that 1.four per cent of cosmetic surgical procedure patients suffered some kind of “post-operative delirium”. Medical professionals warn that other drugs currently being taken by individuals for separate problems can interact with their anaesthesia to disastrous effect if not taken into consideration beforehand.

“In numerous instances, patients are not trustworthy with us,” stated Shari Burns, a nurse and the director of Midwestern University’s anaesthesia programme. “It’s personal data, and I certainly respect that. But on the other side of the coin, withholding that info can be destructive.”

Ms Burns published study on a 47-12 months-previous facelift patient who reacted aggressively to anaesthesia after failing to disclose she was on other medication. “She was violent, tearing at her clothes, at the bandages, and had to be taken to a hospital for inpatient psychiatric care,” she explained.

Ms D’Auriol’s health-related scenario remains unclear. Virtually 10 many years ago, nevertheless, she suffered the devastating reduction of Teo, her 12-yr-previous son, who drowned in a swimming pool accident throughout a holiday in Bali, 10 minutes right after she had left the pool and returned to their villa to pack.

Recalling how she felt “on the edge of nearly insane with sadness”, Ms D’Auriol said in a radio interview obtained by The Telegraph: “I just thought, ‘Oh my God, I want to die. I want to go, I want to go.’ That is how I felt.

“It feels nearly every single other moment that you are on a precipice of a bottomless pit of such sadness that it is unbearable,” she said. Nonetheless she declined anti-depressants because: “I wished to really feel how I felt.”

But she had rebounded, carving out a happy life as a well-known and successful entrepreneur alongside her French husband Yan D’Auriol, a former L’Oréal executive who runs a cosmetics company, and two daughters. “Everybody understands her,” mentioned Crystal Kwok, a Hong Kong broadcaster.

She was listed in Hong Kong Tatler’s “500 List” of influential people and won plaudits for her wide variety of charitable work. All revenue from her jewellery organization were reported to “go towards charities targeted on children’s, women’s, and environmental causes”.

The spotlight has turned to Dr Novack, 59, who reportedly “looked demolished” right after the incident, and is now facing significant concerns about his procedures. Possessing returned to operate, he declined to comment on the tragic turn of events.

A spokesman for the Beverly Hills Police Division explained: “We are conducting an investigation into the likelihood that there could be some criminal negligence involved.” Ed Winter, a senior Los Angeles coroner, stated an autopsy had been carried out, but the trigger of death would not be confirmed until toxicology tests had been finished. This could get numerous more weeks.

Dr John Anastasanos, an eminent plastic surgeon whose office is a number of yards from the internet site of Ms D’Auriol’s fatal leap, mentioned the death had sent shockwaves during the market.

“It’s shocking for so several motives,” he informed The Telegraph. “The large query is: why was she ready to take those actions that endangered her lifestyle to get started with? Individuals should be supervised till they are capable to take good and protected care of themselves, but it seems that she really had plenty of time to discover entry to the roof and put herself in a place of danger.”

The multimillionaire Dr Novack, whose 1970s John Lennon-fashion long hair and round spectacles set him apart from perma-tanned, bodybuilding colleagues, types himself as a minimize above the typical Hollywood nip-and-tucker. He attended Quebec’s McGill University, a prestigious liberal arts school.

He has been described as the “best plastic surgeon no a single will recommend”, since his work is supposedly so very good that no one particular would suspect the patient had even gone below the knife, and is said to have waiting lists of up to 5 months.

Ms Moore, who denies having had plastic surgery, reportedly paid Dr Novack tens of 1000′s of bucks for numerous procedures, including a “knee-lift” to remove sagging skin. Rob Lowe, the actor, named him in a memoir as being amongst his “treasured close friends and confidants”.

“Brian is more of an artist than a surgeon,” Tatiana Namath, his one particular-time spouse, explained right after leaving her American football star husband for Novack in 1999. “He’s extremely sensitive.”

He has also been marketing himself by delivering snappy quips in the media for more than twenty many years. “Centuries from now,” he told a British interviewer in 1996, “when archaeologists dig up our civilisation, they’ll find dust, bones and implant bags.”

Boasting that he had carried out a number of procedures on his very own mom, he stated: “I’ve accomplished liposuction on her back, her inner thighs, her triceps and a small on her abdomen. She’s on her third encounter-lift.”

Two many years in the past, Novack even gave a speech – and was photographed with former President Bill Clinton – at a summit in Austria for the Centre for Global Dialogue and Cooperation, which claims to “foster dialogue between company and politics”.

But behind this bohemian and waspish exterior lies a ruthless businessman, in accordance to some.

One particular associate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, claimed Dr Novack was renowned for his imperious bedside manner, and for becoming 1 of the most costly surgeons in Beverly Hills.

“A facelift with Novack can price up to $ 150,000 – with other surgeons, $ 25,000 is the ball park figure,” the supply informed The Telegraph. “He is not one to hold clients’ hands. Some people like his self confidence, but he isn’t warm and fuzzy. He is not for everybody, even if they can afford him”.

Remarks from former customers posted to Vitals, a US site in which individuals review their medical doctors, help this. “No other medical professional had been as rude as Dr Novack,” 1 apparent consumer explained in June 2011, leaving a one particular-star grade.

“Dr Novack and his assistant Linda have been uncaring and arrogant when the benefits were undesirable,” stated yet another final yr.

A string of specific complaints have been lodged on the web site before a notably more upbeat anonymous review appeared just 3 days right after Ms D’Auriol’s death. “Dr Novack was impeccable with his operate, and extremely caring to make confident every little thing is completed very safely and accurately,” it stated.

The surgeon to the stars will no doubt be hoping that investigators in Beverly Hills come to the exact same conclusion.

Additional reporting by Caroline Hedley in Los Angeles

Sinister side of the plastic surgeon"s knife