By now, you’ve probably heard that over 300,000 silicone breast implants are being recalled by French authorities, mainly across Europe.

News of the French recall spread quickly over the past couple weeks when major media outlets spread the story. The recall affects implants that contain Poly Implant Prosthese (PIP), a brand of silicone.

Much of the concern around this recall, though, stems from the implant manufacturer going out of business in 2010.

MSNBC reports that an official investigation revealed the company was using a cheaper, unapproved, industrial-grade silicone. Reuters got its hands on a French police document that quotes a PIP executive admitting he knew he was using sub-standard silicone. His excuse was that it was cheap.

Surgeons have used the implants for 12 years in more than 65 different countries, and while affected governments are now bringing this to the public’s attention as something happening now, the fact that the implants could have ruptured, leaked and posed risks of cancer for over a decade is understated.

The French government will pay for the removal for implants used in surgeries originally performed in the country. But for surgeries performed in the UK or Germany, though, things get complicated, especially their differing opinions on the dangers that PIP implants can pose.

While Germany advised that women have the implants removed, Britain’s Health Department didn’t find enough evidence to link to cancer to warrant a full-on mass removal. The country will pay for removals of implants originally inserted by the National Health Service. The Washington Post reports that those implants account for only 2,000 of the 40,000 implants.

For the other 38,000 women, the government urges private clinics to step up and remove the implants for free.

The U.S., though, is unaffected as a whole.

A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory committee recommended against introducing PIP to the market in back in 2000. At that time, PIP decided stop pursuing marketing its implants in the U.S., said Erica Jefferson, team leader for medical products and tobacco in the FDA office of public affairs.

While Jefferson couldn’t speak to whether or not it’s possible that women left the U.S. to get implants in other countries, she did say silicone gel-filled implants are not meant to be lifetime products and that implants should be something that women consult their physician and health care provider about.

After all is said and done, ConsumerBell has one question for PIP’s manufacturers and the French government: Why did this notice take almost two years to reach consumers?

The BBC hints that France spent the time between the 2010 investigation and December, 2011, investigating the silicone used to see how dangerous it was, but what do you think?

Should France have made an announcement immediately in 2010? Or was it a good idea to run tests to confirm the danger before going public?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Photos via The Jobbing Doctor and Lauren Greenberg.