Most of the women who undergo routine mammogram screenings for
breast cancer will never actually derive any real benefit from the
radioactive procedure, but the majority of those who end up testing
positive for tumors as a result of mammography will undergo needless
treatments for malignancies that never would have led to any health
problems.
These unsettling findings from a review recently published in the journal, The Lancet, found that for every woman whose life is supposedly saved as a result of early detection, three others undergo invasive surgery, toxic chemotherapy, or immune-destroying radiation treatments for benign tumors that never would have resulted in fatality.
This shocking information represents one more setback for the practice of mammography, which is still touted by the mainstream medical system as the premier method by which women have the best chance of not dying from breast cancer. Not only are women not being told about the significant radaioactive risks associatied with getting mammograms, but they are also not being told that the procedure often detects noncancerous tumors.
According to the review of the study done in the U.K., 1,307 women avoid dying from breast cancer every single year in the U.K. as a result of being screened for breast cancer. But another 3,971 women every year also end up opting for unnecessary, expensive, and highly-toxic treatment procedures for benign tumors as a result of mammography, which causes many of them to suffer irreparable damage to their immune health.
According to a similar study released early this year from Norway, as many as 25 percent of the breast cancers detected by mammography would have never even caused any health problems during the women’s lifetimes. At the same time, mammography alsofails to detect as many as 10% of harmful breast turmors, indicating that it is a highly unreliable, and very toxic, breast cancer detection method that needs to be effectively phased out of mainstream use.
“Once you’ve decided to undergo mammography screening, you also have to deal with the consequences that you might be over-diagnosed,” says Dr. Metter Kalager, a breast surgeon at Telemark Hospital in Norway about the widespread problem of breast cancer over-diagnosis. “By then, I think, it’s too late. You have to get treated.”
The truth is that we’ve exaggerated the benefits of screening and we’ve ignored the harms. Mammography helps some people but it leads others to be treated unnecessarily.
These unsettling findings from a review recently published in the journal, The Lancet, found that for every woman whose life is supposedly saved as a result of early detection, three others undergo invasive surgery, toxic chemotherapy, or immune-destroying radiation treatments for benign tumors that never would have resulted in fatality.
This shocking information represents one more setback for the practice of mammography, which is still touted by the mainstream medical system as the premier method by which women have the best chance of not dying from breast cancer. Not only are women not being told about the significant radaioactive risks associatied with getting mammograms, but they are also not being told that the procedure often detects noncancerous tumors.
According to the review of the study done in the U.K., 1,307 women avoid dying from breast cancer every single year in the U.K. as a result of being screened for breast cancer. But another 3,971 women every year also end up opting for unnecessary, expensive, and highly-toxic treatment procedures for benign tumors as a result of mammography, which causes many of them to suffer irreparable damage to their immune health.
According to a similar study released early this year from Norway, as many as 25 percent of the breast cancers detected by mammography would have never even caused any health problems during the women’s lifetimes. At the same time, mammography alsofails to detect as many as 10% of harmful breast turmors, indicating that it is a highly unreliable, and very toxic, breast cancer detection method that needs to be effectively phased out of mainstream use.
“Once you’ve decided to undergo mammography screening, you also have to deal with the consequences that you might be over-diagnosed,” says Dr. Metter Kalager, a breast surgeon at Telemark Hospital in Norway about the widespread problem of breast cancer over-diagnosis. “By then, I think, it’s too late. You have to get treated.”
The truth is that we’ve exaggerated the benefits of screening and we’ve ignored the harms. Mammography helps some people but it leads others to be treated unnecessarily.
June 8, 2013
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