Letter to Editor
Comment: Breast cancer awareness means screening awareness
By A reader
Oct 1, 2008 - 9:03:42 AM

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It's that time of year again.  October is the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.   An article published by Ironton Tribune suggests that men should get screened for breast cancer because "cancer does not discriminate."

Breast cancer affects about 1,700 men each year, and that is true. But is it necessary all men go to see a doctor to get screened each year or every some years although it would be a great income source for doctors?

The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month has been around quite a few years and it does not seem to help cut the risk of the disease much.   It seems to me the awareness is more about promotion of the cancer business.

Whenever you read articles about the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, you more likely see the keywords like risk, deaths, screening, diagnosis and treatment than words like prevention. The best you can read is "screening is a prevention tool"

There is no doubt that breast cancer is a serious disease for women.   Each year the disease is diagnosed in about 180,000 women in the United States. But those who have concern about the risk should pay attention to more than diagnosis and treatment.

Screening is a tool for diagnosis!   There is NOT a prevention tool for most people. Doctors who claim that screening is a prevention tool really mean that the tool helps find cancer early and they can treat it early (they would not tell you that they make money early) and patients have better odds of survival.

But the real prevention for patients is to prevent the disease from developing in the first place.  

Breast cancer is largely a preventable disease.   Distinguished nutritionists like Dr. Colin T. Campbell at Cornell University said genetics only plays a tiny role in cancer risk and even if you carry certain risky genes, environmental factors like nutrients can modify the risk to minimal and you do not necessarily suffer breast cancer or others.

Cancer does discriminate!

In the National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, what are you going to do?   Get screened repeatedly (don't forget that raises breast cancer risk!) or you want to enjoy a good lifestyle/diet that actually helps prevent breast cancer -- and prevent loss of money resulting from diagnosis and treatment as well.