A research team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research IAP have developed a way to use DNA sequences from tomatoes as permanent markets to identify any implants that have been illegally tampered with.
Counterfeit medical products have become a major concern not only for manufacturers but also for consumers. Fake medical products tend to be inferior to the original and can put patients’ lives at risk.
In 2010, a French company blended unapproved silicones with its breast implants as a way to cut production costs. Illegal manipulation such as this can be very difficult to detect, requiring elaborate analyses to see if products have been tampered with.
To combat this, the team at the Fraunhofer Institute developed a method which involves using tomato DNA as a way to positively identify implants.
“We isolated genomic DNA (gDNA) from tomato leaves and embedded it in the silicone matrix. We used approved siloxanes, which are building blocks for silicone products, to manufacture breast implants,” says Dr. Joachim Storsberg, a scientist at the Fraunhofer IAP in Potsdam and a witness in court cases centred on breast implants.
The team managed to prove that the extracted DNA’s temperature remained stable throughout pilot experiments. The method should be desirable to manufacturers: tomato DNA is inexpensive and is suitable as a counterfeit-proof market for many polymer-based implants.
“Breast implants are made up of components; that is, several silicone polymers that cross-link to form a gel. The components’ manufacturer now has the option of marking silicones with the encapsulated tomato DNA sequence during the production process. He alone knows the type and concentration of the DNA used. The components are marked first, and then sold to the implant manufacturer. The PCR method can detect if the manufacturer stretched components with inferior materials or used a lower concentration. “This works much like a paternity test,” explained Storsberg.
Throughout history, researchers have experimented with a host of surprising materials in an attempt to modify the properties of breast implants. According to the Journal of Plastic Surgery, the first hald of the 20th Century saw scientists attempting to manufacture breast implants using ivory balls, glass balls, vegetable oils, mineral oil, lanolin, beeswax, shellac, silk fabric, epoxy resin, ground rubber, ox cartilage, sponges, sacs, rubber, goat’s milk, Teflon, soybean and peanut oil, and glazier’s putty.
More recently, implants have been made available which make use of the lightweight properties of borosilicate – a material more commonly associated with Nasa.
According to The Mirror, the implants, which are made by an Israeli firm, have a standard gel filling containing tiny hollow microspheres made from borosilicate.
Borosilicate glass was used in the heat shield that protected Nasa's space shuttle during re-entry to Earth.
The tomato-based procedure developed by Storsberg and his team – which includes Marina Volkert from Berlin’s Beuth University of Applied Sciences – has already been patented and is published in the Plastische Chirurgie journal.
