For every one woman that dies from breast cancer, five to 15 are misdiagnosed and needlessly treated.
That's five to 15 women undergoing unnecessary surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
A possible, maybe even likely, cause of these misdiagnoses is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
At its inception, 117 women died every day from breast cancer.
Today, 110 women die every day--a two percent decrease annually from 1990 onward, according to the National Breast Cancer Coalition.
Seven fewer women dying daily is a great achievement and nothing to scoff at.
But is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month still effective or necessary?
It all started in 1985 under the guidance of AstraZeneca, a manufacturer of the breast cancer drugs Arimidex and Tamoxifen and the world's seventh-largest pharmaceutical company.
AstraZeneca is to National Breast Cancer Awareness Month what Hallmark is to Valentine's Day or what Macy's is to Christmas
Idea: the promotion of annual mammograms would help prevent breast cancer.
And, of course, while you're at it, use Arimidex and Tamoxifen to treat all your cancer needs. Wink.
Surely AstraZeneca's control of two drugs linked to treating breast cancer, one of which, Arimidex, approximately nets the company $2.2 billion annually, is in no way linked to the yearly October corporate pink blitzkrieg.
Surely.
And since doctors have now discovered breast cancer is complex and the result of varying degrees of aggressive tumors, some of which are indolent and of no harm, AstraZeneca is surely saddened by the five to 15 women using Arimidex and Tamoxifen and undergoing the physical and emotional drain of chemotherapy for no reason.
Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, of the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in Lebanon, N.H., in an article from the Chicago Tribune titled "Benefits of awareness campaigns questioned," said self-exams and mammograms are most adept at finding indolent cancers.
These diagnoses, or, in some cases, misdiagnoses, are often the result of the very process National Breast Cancer Awareness Month promotes: self-exams and frequent mammograms.
Welch said the most aggressive cancers, those most dangerous and metastasizing the fastest, are often growing and spreading before either doctor or patient knows they are present.
Thus, there has only been a slight decrease in breast cancer-related deaths in the last 26 years.
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with its pink ribbons and its NFL advertising affiliation, should focus more on actual diagnosis and prevention rather than simply raising "awareness."
We're all aware of breast cancer.
Now we need to do something to provide accurate diagnosis so women won't undergo as many unnecessary treatments and so prevention is at the forefront.
It should be noted that the annual October pinkfest also raises money for breast cancer research and prevention techniques.
And not all pink-focused campaigns are run by heartless ubercapitalists.
But, knowing the month's genesis, it's hard not to question the legitimacy of AstraZeneca's version of "awareness."
Make sure you're actually aware this month.
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