Bill to Teach Breast Self-Exam to Teens Wins Political Support; Experts Fear Harm

From The Cancer Letter, April 10, 2009:

A breast cancer bill that experts in cancer screening describe as harmful and scientifically unsound is gathering momentum in the House and is expected to be introduced in the Senate.

The measure introduced by Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a star in the Democratic Party, seeks to spend $45 million over five years to start educational campaigns that would include promoting regular breast self-exams to secondary school students, even though the intervention has been proven ineffective in randomized trials.

On Wasserman Schultz’s website, the bill’s short title—the EARLY Act—features a pink ribbon in place
of an “L.” The bill’s stated objective is to educate young women about their risk and to help them avert
the disease. However, Leslie Bernstein, director of the Division of Cancer Etiology at the City of Hope
Comprehensive Cancer Center and a breast cancer prevention expert, offers a different all-caps designation for the legislation: “HARM!”

Read Bernstein's letter here, as well as an analysis of the bill by the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

Read more in the April 10 issue (subscription or day pass required) from The Cancer Letter Archive at left or tab at top.




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tags: Congress|  legislation