A Sobering Report
Posted 8/15/2012
Posted in
As you know, I am a strong supporter of the National Breast Cancer Coalition (www.breastcancerdeadline2020.org), sometimes described as the Thinking Woman's Breast Cancer organization. If you are not familiar with them and their work, click on the link and educate yourself.
This is their 2012 Executive Summary of the state of breast cancer research. The conclusion, very sobering, is that a great deal of money and energy have been spent, and real progress has been made in treating breast cancer and extending life for women with metastatic disease. However, the most important goals of prevention and cure are as distant as ever. Additionally, there have really not been reductions in the mortality rate from breast cancer, and there are increasing questions about the value (in terms of survival) of early detection.
Here is a quote from their report and then a link to download the full report (PDF). I strongly urge you to do so:
There are many myths and misunderstandings that surround breast cancer. In order to make real progress toward saving lives and ending breast cancer, we need to better understand its reality at all levels. The reality is troubling.
Breast cancer continues to take a toll in the US and globally despite significant attention and resources directed at the disease. Billions of dollars have been invested in breast cancer research, and many organizations and public health officials continue to focus attention on early detection and awareness campaigns as the primary approach to addressing breast cancer.
Given the attention and resources directed to breast cancer, the public understandably believes that we have made significant progress. As shown in the Baseline Report and in this year's Progress Report, that is not the case. We know little about how to prevent breast cancer or how to prevent deaths from the disease.
While we have discovered new ways to treat breast cancer, they have not had a great effect on the important outcomes: preventing breast cancer and making certain no one dies of it.
Read more (download full PDF) »
And here is a related story from The Daily Beast »
Tags: