Mammographic screening increases risk of breast
cancer mortality in premenopausal women.
excerpt from Chapter Five of Breast Cancer? Breast Health!
by Susun Weed
Available at www.wisewomanbookshop.com
A Canadian study of 90,000 women (published in Lancet, November 1992)
showed a 36-52 percent increase in mortality from breast cancer in women
40-49 who had annual mammograms. 8, 9 The Swedish Malmo Screening Trial
(as reported in The British Medical Journal, 1988) which also included
tens of thousands of women, showed 29 percent greater mortality from
breast cancer in women under 55 who were regularly screened with mammograms.
(Studies of women 50-59 showed no difference in breast cancer mortality
between women who did and women who didn't have regular screening mammograms.)
Critics of these studies claim that newer mammographic equipment uses
less radiation. This belies the point that mammograms are inherently
dangerous. Orthodox medicine tells me again and again to overlook the
harm that it has done to women and promises a future where the machines
will be better calibrated and safer. But what of the harm that's been,
and is now, done?
Mammographic screening is not and never will be a safe way to find
breast cancer. Although safer after menopause than before, mammography
is never without risk entirely.
Excerpt from
Breast
Cancer? Breast Health the Wise Woman Way
by Susun S. Weed
Read the rest of Chapter 5 (click on any section below)
Mammograms - Who needs them?
All mammograms are x-rays.
Mammograms are inaccurate.
Mammograms can't tell if there's cancer.
Mammograms don't replace breast self-exams.
Mammographic screening increases risk
of breast cancer mortality in premenopausal women.
Why I haven't had a baseline mammogram.
Mammograms aren't safe.
Screening mammograms lead to overtreatment.
Screening mammograms don't increase
your chances of being cured . . . or of surviving longer.
Mammograms don't find cancer before
it metastasizes.
Aren't mammograms life saving for
women over 55?
Yearly screening mammograms aren't
cost effective to society nor are they safe environmentally.
Is there a less risky way to participate
in screening mam-mography?
Mammograms distract us from the need
for societal commitment to true prevention.
Are there other ways to find early-stage
breast cancers?
Mammograms don't promote breast health.
If You Decide to Have a Mammogram.
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