The head of a now-defunct French breast implant company is being sought by authorities in Costa Rica for what are described as “life and death” offenses.

Jean-Claude Mas is founder of Poly Implant Prothese , a firm that was shut down last year after the discovery it was using inexpensive industrial-grade silicone to manufacture its implants. Interpol on Friday issued a “red notice” that calls for Mas's arrest.

Earlier on Friday, the French government recommended that the 30,000 women in France with the implants have them removed out of concern they could rupture. It rejected fears that they could cause cancer.

Tens of thousands of women in dozens of countries, most of them in South America and western Europe, used the implants for cosmetic surgery or to replace lost breast tissue.