The Mammography Spin Doctors

Trying to Save
a Flawed Technology

It has always been known that mammograms carry a significant risk of causing and spreading breast cancer, yet it has been widely ignored by mainstream medicine. Mammograms can cause breast cancer through repeated irradiation of the breasts and spread cancer by the fracturing of the fibrous capsule surrounding the tumor through compression of the breasts. In 2005, the Nuclear Information Resource Service concluded that all levels of radiation are confirmed to cause cancer.

I was thrilled when the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force issued its report last month regarding new mammography recommendations and questioning the need for women to get routine mammograms in their 40s. At least the Task Force’s recommendation was a move in the right direction.

Why are the Spin Doctors, those involved in the politics of cancer and in the mammography industry, in an uproar and defensive when new scientific discoveries are made?

Is it because mammography is a multi-billion dollar industry? Are they trying to create a scientifically ignorant society? Are we going to allow it?
Ladies, wake up! Be your own health advocate. Women have the most influential impact on the new generation. We are the educators and nurturers; we must lead by example. We owe it to ourselves, our sisters, our daughters and our mothers to stand together and demand better screening methods be made available, along with preventative therapies.

Breast thermography is a non-invasive state-of-the-art digital infrared thermal imaging technology that empowers women in prevention and the earliest detection of even the most microscopic physiological changes in their breast tissue.
Quite a few women I’ve met have had the unpleasant experience of receiving a biopsy after their mammogram discovered a mass. Some still suffer from pain and tenderness at the biopsy site years later. Not to mention the emotional toll it takes. Less than 17% of biopsies are positive; most masses are benign.

With this in mind, if you did choose to have a mammogram and there was a mass discovered, why wouldn’t you be sent for a breast thermogram to determine if the area has a significant heat signature or abnormal vascular pattern?  The heat created by an abnormal vascular signature is easily detected by a thermogram. This could help a patient and their healthcare provider decide if a biopsy is truly necessary.
While the Spin Doctors and critics have denounced the new recommendations by the independent U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, shouldn’t we ask, what does the Task Force have to gain by releasing an unsubstantiated report?  These are objective scientists who simply reported their findings.

We need to look at the evidence and be open to considering new recommendations, especially when the mortality rate from breast cancer has not changed much in over 40 years. The fact is, doubts about mammography have been mounting for decades. Many, on both sides of the argument, agree that the value of mammograms may have been over-exaggerated while some of the drawbacks, dangers and risks of subjecting many women to unnecessary treatment have been minimized or ignored.

If we want different results, we must do things differently. Do your own research, know your body and don’t let the Spin Doctors bombard you with misinformation and negativity about breasts? Our breasts are not the enemy or time-bombs waiting to go off. Most women do not get breast cancer.
All breasts are a work of art and should be celebrated as the beautiful wonders they are.

Gaea Powell, CTT
Atascadero