Breast Cancer? Breast Health!
The Wise Woman Way
by Susun S. Weed
Paperback - 380 pages
Published by Ash Tree Publishing
Visit Breast Cancer? Breast Health in our Bookshop
Chapter 5.
Mammograms -Who Needs Them?Excerpt from Breast Cancer? Breast Health! By Susun S. Weed
Yearly screening mammograms aren't cost effective to society nor are they safe environmentally
The Southern Medical Journal reports that the cost effectiveness (defined as the number of dollars spent so one person can live one year longer) of mammograms for women under 55 is $82,000.19 A recent analysis found that it cost $195,000 to detect one breast cancer using screening mammograms.Dr. Charles Wright of Vancouver General Hospital estimates that the cost of saving one life by mass screening is $1.25 million (Canadian).
The mammography industry could gross $1 billion per year if every woman aged 40-49 was screened yearly. Less than 10 percent of all breast cancers occur in women that age.
Choosing screening mammograms means I choose to contribute to the stream of low-level radioactive waste leaving hospitals. Will my mammogram increase my daughter's risk of developing breast cancer by increasing the amount of radioactivity in her environment? What is the real cost of this choice?
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.
ResourcesRead more Excerpts from Breast Cancer? Breast Health!
NOTE: close this window to simply return to where you came from
