NATION IN BRIEF : MARYLAND : Breast Implant Suit Bias Claim Rejected

A judge refused to block a federal advisory panel’s plans to consider the safety of silicone breast implants, rejecting an implant maker’s claim that the panel was biased. U.S. District Judge John Hargrove said in Baltimore that delaying a recommendation by the Food and Drug Administration advisory panel would hurt the public. McGhan Medical Corp. of Santa Barbara, Calif., had filed suit, saying the issue should be turned over to Health and Human Services Secretary Louis W. Sullivan. Meanwhile, a federal judge in Cincinnati granted class-action status to seven women and two of their husbands seeking damages for health problems blamed on silicone gel implants.