Great. Breast Cancer Prevention May Lead to Breast Cancer

[REP]

Great. Breast Cancer Prevention May Lead to Breast Cancer
Erin Gloria Ryan

Raise your hand if you saw this one coming from a mile away — while for years women have been told and told and told by everything from pink NFL wristbands to Yoplait lids that the best way to fight breast cancer was to detect it via self-exams and mammograms, it turns out that the act of looking for breast cancer may, in fact, cause breast cancer. Boobs, I'm beginning to think you're more trouble than you're worth.

The research, released by a leading European cancer research organization, shows that some women who expose themselves to radiation from mammogram machines exhibit an increased risk of getting cancer later in life. This especially applies to young women who are already at an elevated risk of developing cancer due to genetic factors — if you're under 30 and you're getting mammograms, it might be a good idea to opt for a less risky, less titsquishy MRI rather than the much-touted mammogram. From HuffPo,
The researchers did not have a breakdown of how many women were exposed to chest radiation before age 30 but estimated that for every 100 women aged 30 with a gene mutation, nine will develop breast cancer by age 40. They projected the number of cases would increase by five if all of them had one mammogram before age 30.

The research's findings validate standard practices of doctors in several European countries, according to the Huffington Post In Spain, the Netherlands, and Britain, young women with genetic mutations that make them prone to cancer are generally directed away from mammograms.

This may bode especially poorly for breast cancer sorority charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which has already had a hell of a crappy 2012. Not only did its decision to politicize cancer by defunding Planned Parenthood lead to a huge immediate public backlash, its attempts to rehabilitate its public image have only been met with a resounding "meh" by the public. Donations to the charity are down significantly from coast to coast (here in NYC, this weekend's Race for the Cure registration is down 25% over last year's). Several prominent executives in the charity resigned, and founder and CEO Nancy Brinker even pretended to step down from the role of CEO in order to satisfy the public that a terribly out-of-touch rich lady with a clear political agenda wasn't driving the ship anymore. And to make matters worse, earlier this summer, the charity was formally reprimanded (or "spanked&quot for using deceptive advertising practices to "sell" mammograms to women who don't need them.

Read the rest here

Awesome. I'm in a high-risk category (nullapara with a metric shit-ton of calcifications from cysts, plus family history) so I started getting them at 40. Fortunately I have an amazing GYN who stays (ahem) abreast of these things and insurance that will cover MRIs, but not all women are so fortunate, and PinkIndustry seems to have an interest in selling these things (see link at linked piece about Komen selling unnecessary mammograms).