Holed up at his home in the south of France, the founder of troubled breast implant manufacturer PIP is fighting back against a growing international scandal over his allegedly faulty products.

Between 300,000 and 400,000 women in 65 countries from Europe to Latin America have implants made with sub-standard silicone gel by 72-year-old Jean-Claude Mas's now-bankrupt company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP).

Lipitor, the best-selling drug in the history of pharmaceuticals, is the blockbuster that almost wasn't.

When it was in development, the cholesterol-lowering medicine was viewed as such an also-ran it almost didn't make it into patient testing.

Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer and will undergo surgery next week, two months after being reelected in a landslide vote, her spokesman said.

Kirchner, the country's first elected female president, was found to have cancer "on the right lobe of the thyroid gland" during a routine medical examination on December 22, said spokesman Alfredo Scoccimarro.

Venezuela's public health service will remove for free French-made breast implants feared to be at risk of rupturing, Health Minister Eugenia Sader said Tuesday.

"Patients who wish to have breast implants made by the French company Poly Implant Prothese (PIP) may head to hospitals with plastic surgery units to have them removed at no cost," state news agency AVN quoted Sader as saying.

Mildewed feed given to cows caused the high levels of a cancer-causing toxin found in milk from China's biggest dairy company and a smaller one, according to a government safety agency investigating the troubled dairy industry's latest scandal.

An expert review identified the mildewed feed as the cause of the excessive levels of aflatoxin in milk from industry giant Mengniu Dairy Group and the Fujian Changfu Dairy Industry Group, the quality supervision and inspection agency said in a statement posted on its website late Monday.

Drug companies are working to develop a pure, more powerful version of a highly abused medicine, which has addiction experts worried that it could spur a new wave of abuse.

The new pills contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, packing up to 10 times the amount of the drug as existing medications such as Vicodin. Four companies have begun patient testing, and one of them — Zogenix of San Diego — plans to apply early next year to begin marketing its product, Zohydro.

Medical officials say five recovering drug addicts died and dozens of others were sickened by soy sausage served for Christmas dinner at a rehabilitation center in western Mexico.

Authorities were investigating whether the poisoning at the center in the city of Guadalajara was accidental or intentional. Drug cartels have taken over rehabilitation centers in parts of Mexico, forcibly recruiting addicts as hit men and smugglers. The invasions have led to mass shootings at the centers that have left dozens dead.

A surgeon and technician from a Mayo Clinic in Florida flying across the northern corner of the state to retrieve a heart for transplant died Monday in a helicopter crash that also killed the pilot, officials said.

The helicopter departed the clinic in Jacksonville around 5:45 a.m. but never arrived at the Gainesville hospital, Shands at University of Florida, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) to the southwest, said Kathy Barbour, a spokeswoman for Mayo, which is based in Rochester, Minnesota.

Around 1,000 Dutch women were given potentially risky breast implants made by a French company and should see their doctors, a health watchdog said Tuesday.

Sold under the brand name "M-Implants" the product was made by Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), Dutch health authority inspectorate spokeswoman Diane Bouhuijs said.

China has discovered excessive levels of a cancer-causing toxin in milk produced by one of the nation's leading dairy companies, the firm said, in the latest in a series of food safety alarms.

The government's quality watchdog found high levels of an aflatoxin, which is caused by mold, in milk produced by the Mengniu Dairy Group, the company said in a statement issued Sunday.