This post content was published by APHA, the American Public Health Association: For science. For action. For health
The goal of breast cancer screening is to prevent women from dying from breast cancer, and for thirty years we have been told by industry that regular mammograms will save our lives. Current science shows that screening mammograms do not reduce the number of women who die from breast cancer and comes with significant harms including false positives, overdiagnosis and overtreatment. Many mainstream public health and breast cancer organizations have neglected to update their positions and educational materials with these evidence-based changes. How can we hold these national organizations accountable for pushing a scientifically invalid message?
Conveying information in an accessible and visually engaging way, the brochure, Should I Have A Mammogram: Understanding the Harms and Benefits of Routine Breast Cancer Screening, is designed to provide important evidence based information for women at “average risk”. As women evaluate their health decisions, they must have access to unbiased information, free from conflict of interest and without the heavy thumb of vested interests tipping the balance. Download and print a PDF.
What about women like myself who had no reason to suspect breast cancer in my late sixties. Had a mammogram and to my shock I had a cancerous lump, then went on to have andother lump in the same breast one year later, then a further lump in the second breast with all lymph nodes removed, then a total double mascetomy in 2009,I am please I was given the chance to be screened!
Yes Valerie. I remember telling you in the past how happy I was that a screening was really helpful in your personal case.
The goal of some informative posts are to show that mammograms are not the whole story and that because of their associated risks, screening is a decision that belongs to every woman.
What was right for me, might not be right for you, and vice-versa…
Best,