CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuela is offering women the free removal of breast implants made by a bankrupt French company that used industrial silicone to make cheap prostheses linked to health risks.

The implants were made by the now defunct Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) and appear to have had an unusually high rupture rate, prompting the authorities in France to urge women to have them removed.

Tens of thousands of the implants were used in Latin America, where demand for cosmetic procedures is high, and fear and anger at the situation is growing.