Breast cancer screening programme 'does more harm than good'
Routine breast cancer screening can do "more harm than good" and women who missed appointments should "carry on with their lives", doctors have said.
A group of 15 health experts have written to the Times, saying women must not be subjected to "fear-mongering". It comes after 450,000 women in England were not invited for routine screening because of a computer error. Breast cancer charities say the screening programme offers women the "best chance" of early detection.
In the letter to the newspaper, the group of academics and
GPs say women aged
70-79 who are being of fered catch- up appointments should only seek help if they notice a lump or other symptoms.
"[They] would be well advised to look this gift horse in the mouth," the medical professionals wrote.
"The breast screening programme mostly causes more unintended harm than good, which is slowly being recognised internationally.
Many women and doctors now avoid breast screening because it has no impact on all- cause death."
The claims of lives saved because of breast screening are counteracted by deaths resulting from interventions, the medics said. And the most dangerous and advanced cancers are not prevent- ed by screening programmes, they said. The letter added: "Although counter-intuitive, catching some things that look like cancer down a microscope (before it exists) can be too early and unnecessary." The NHS estimates that its screening programme saves about one life for every 200 women who are scanned for breast cancer. But about three in every 200 women screened are diagnosed with a cancer that would never have become life- threatening, equating to about 4,000 women each year being offered unnecessary treatment.
Retired nurse Maggie Whyte, 61, from Edinburgh discovered she had stage one breast cancer when she went for a routine mammogram last year. "I was lucky as it hadn't spread to my lymph nodes," she said. "Another three years, I don't know what would have happened. How dare they say screening is no good? I am so grateful to have my health."