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# Mammography can cause breast cancer
- URL: https://www.foodconsumer.org/mammography_can_cause_breast_cancer_0420130344/
- Published: 2013-04-20T16:42:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-22T16:15:36.000Z
- Description: A Journal of Clinical Oncology study of 1,601 BRCA1/2 carriers found those ever exposed to chest x-rays were 54 percent more likely to develop breast cancer, with the increase near 100 percent for exposure before 40. The study measured chest x-rays, not mammography itself.
- Author: Food Consumer
- Tags: Drug, Health News, Mammogram, Breast Cancer, #vivvo-import

By Jimmy Downs

Saturday April 20, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- Ironically, mammography intended to screen breast cancer, can actually cause the disease, suggests a study in Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The study did not find direct evidence to suggest that using mammography was associated with increased risk of breast cancer. Instead, it found exposure to chest x-ray associated with increased risk for the disease. 

Mammography delivers more radiation and it should be more damaging than chest x-ray.

The study led by N. Andrieu from Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale Emi00-06 in Paris, France and colleagues shows women who were ever exposed to chest x-ray were more than 50 percent more likely to develop breast cancer, compared with those who did not expose.

The increase in the risk of breast cancer induced by chest x-ray can be more significant among women who carry mutations in the BRCA1/2 genes. The BRCA carriers doubled their risk for breast cancer if they were ever exposed to chest x-ray.

Germline mutations in the BRCA1/2 genes can disable women's ability to repair DNA damage, increasing the odds of developing breast cancer. Ionizing radiation used in both diagnostics like mammography and cancer treatment has been known to cause cancer. 

The current study was intended to examine its effect on the risk of breast cancer in BRCA carriers. Enrolled in the retrospective cohort study were 1,601 BRCA1/2 carriers. 

The researchers found ever exposure to chest x-rays was correlated with 54 percent increased risk for breast cancer. The increase was almost 100 percent among those BRCA carriers who were exposed to radiation before the age of 40 years. The increase was 156 percent and 364 percent among those born after 1949 and those exposed to chest x-rays prior to the age of 20 years, respectively.

The study suggests that women need to think twice before they decide to receive mammography screening annually.

Samuel S. Epstein M.D., Professor Emeritus Environmental Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health says that one mammography screening may deliver a 1,000 fold higher dose of chest x-ray than one single chest x-ray dose, which means that mammography is even more harmful than chest x-ray.

For more information on the dangers of mammography screening, read [here](http://foodconsumer.org/7777/8888/Non-f%5Food%5FThings%5F27/Dangers%5Fand%5FUnreliability%5Fof%5FMammography%5Fprinter.shtml?ref=foodconsumer.org)