4 Firms Join Breast Implant Case Deal

Nearly $500 million was added to a record-breaking settlement aimed at resolving thousands of lawsuits filed by women who contend that they were injured by silicone gel breast implants, as four more corporations joined the deal, according to sources close to the negotiations.

The additional money brings the total settlement fund to slightly more than $4.2 billion.

3M agreed to put in $325 million, Union Carbide, $138 million, McGhan Medical Corp., $25 million and Wilshire Foam, $8 million. Their contributions were hammered out in negotiations conducted in New York and Birmingham, Ala., which concluded Friday.

All the major manufacturers of breast implants have now joined the settlement, although some makers of the foam and silicone gel that went into implants have not settled and will remain the subject of individual lawsuits.

Last month, the three leading suppliers of breast implants--Dow Corning Corp., Baxter Healthcare Corp. and Bristol-Myers Squibb, agreed to put $3.75 billion into the settlement. U.S. District Judge Sam C. Pointer Jr. of Birmingham, Ala., who is supervising thousands of breast implant cases, provisionally approved the settlement last week.