Protest of Revised USPSTF mammogram standards 11/23 8-5:30!!
**If you are against the revised U.S. Preventive Services Task Force
recently released revised age guidelines for mammogram breast cancer
screening, please show your support by spreading the word and joining us on Monday. **
What: Protest of Revised USPSTF mammogram standards
When: Monday Nov 23, 2009
Where: Immediately outside the USPSTF offices at Dept of Health and Human Services
540 Gaither Road, Rockville MD 20850
Time: 8:00 am to 5:30 pm
Bring signs stating your position and picket with us in an orderly
fashion. See below for talking points ideas.
Note: picketing is allowed without permit but we must not block
entrances/exits, participants must be ‘professionally’ dressed and must
keep moving.
Organized by: Indignant breast cancer survivors diagnosed by mammogram before age 50 or by breast self exam.
I need your help on something very important to all of us.
You may have heard some of the media uproar this past week on
recommendations released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a
group of independent physicians and researchers who are funded by the US
Government Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
These guidelines state that women mammograms have not saved a
“significant” number of lives in the age group under 50 over 75 and
therefore they have (loudly) recommended against them for women in those
age groups. The thinking is that there are too many “false” positives
vs. the number of mammograms.
As a breast cancer survivor with many friends who were diagnosed in
their 40’s by mammograms, I am indignant about the release of this
study. I question the motives of the USPSTF, who refers to themselves
as “the Gold Standard” for medical care recommendations in the U.S. on
their website. My survivor friends and I have planned a general protest
at the Dept of HHS on Monday, Nov 23, to let them know that we value
even one life saved and mammograms are our best test to find early stage
breast cancer in ages 50 and under and over 75. This is as critical to
us as it is for diagnostic testing for the ages in between. We have
saved thousands of lives. Are a few false positives worth it to save a
life? In my opinion, you bet. That life might be yours or mine.
The current recommendation advocated by the American Cancer Society and
Susan G. Komen for the Cure for preventive care against early stage
breast cancer are:
Annual mammograms after age 40
Annual clinical exams
Monthly breast self exam
There are no other tests available today to determine if a woman has
early stage breast cancer. If it shows up in a blood test, it is too
late in most cases to treat it successfully. Early detection is the
only way we have been saving lives.
The ACS, Komen and other leading cancer organizations have made strong
statements against the released research findings by the USPSTF and have
stated that their guidelines will remain unchanged. However, many women
may now feel, after hearing the announcement on the national news and
subsequent discussions surrounding this information, that annual
mammograms are unnecessary and will postpone or neglect to have them.
We have come so far in the battle against breast cancer with early
detection and this is a huge setback for that message. We are also
concerned that insurance companies will ultimately interpret this
“recommendation” as sanctioned by the US Government and deny mammograms
to women between 40 and 50 and over 75. This would have an extremely
negative effect breast cancer mortality rates in the US.
PLEASE JOIN OUR PROTEST!!
AND FORWARD THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS, SURVIVORS AND LOVED ONES!
Suggested text for signs:
UNFAIR! USPSTF REVISED MAMMOGRAM AGE GUIDELINES!
OR
A MAMMOGRAM BEFORE AGE 50 SAVED MY LIFE!
OR
USPSTF: MAMMOGRAMS ARE IMPORTANT TO 40 AND 80 YEAR OLDS!
OR
USPSTF: NOT THE GOLD STANDARD IN BREAST CANCER PREVENTION
There are talking points included below in this email.
Hope to see you on Monday!
Regards -
nira
Here are some talking Points:
It is undisputed that mammograms help save lives.
The questions raised by the new recommendations made by United States
Preventive Services Task Force --- and immediately rejected by the
American Cancer Society and the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists -- are about timing (to start at age 40 or 50?), and
whether they save enough lives of women in their 40s to warrant the
expense, the risk of unnecessary procedures, and the anxieties
associated with having a mammogram and learning its results.
The USPSTF used statistical modeling to predict the impact of screenings
found over a 10 year period. It found that if a thousand women beginning
at age 40 were screened with mammograms, there were small gains in
cancer deaths averted, compared to if these women started at age 50.
Specifically, their modeling found that 6.1 deaths would be averted,
compared to 5.4. The panel judged that difference to be not worth the
expense, biopsies and anxieties.
The woman whose life was saved might beg to differ.
And let’s look at those numbers in terms of larger numbers of women
screened, using the statistical modeling provided by the USPSTF:
Deaths of women averted by screening in their 40s vs. deaths of women
averted by women who start screening in their 50s:
1,000 women 6.1 5.4
10,000 women 61 54
100,000 women 610 540
1,000,000 women 6100 5400
So for every 100,000 women screened in their 40s, as opposed to waiting
till their 50s, 70 more women would live. For every one million women,
700 more women would live. Over 33 million mammograms are performed each
year in the United States.
The New York Times of 11/18/09 reported that the USPSTF also found
differences in years of life gained by women receiving mammograms in
their 40s, compared to starting mammograms at age 50:
Years of life gained per
1,000 women 120 99
10,000 women 1200 990
100,000 women 12,000 9,990
1,000,000 women 120,000 99,990
The chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, Dr. Otis
Brawley, has issued a statement saying “With its new recommendations,
the [Task Force] is essentially telling women that mammography at age 40
to 49 saves lives; just not enough of them.” In view of that, the
American Cancer Society continues to recommend yearly mammograms for
women in their 40s at average risk. Because they help save lives.
Mammography is an imperfect tool. On a public policy level, we must
demand more funding be made available to find a cure for cancer.
Mammography is a diagnostic tool, not a cure, and we need a cure. But
for the task of early and timely detection, mammograms, in conjunction
with clinical breast exams, are our best tool.
recently released revised age guidelines for mammogram breast cancer
screening, please show your support by spreading the word and joining us on Monday. **
What: Protest of Revised USPSTF mammogram standards
When: Monday Nov 23, 2009
Where: Immediately outside the USPSTF offices at Dept of Health and Human Services
540 Gaither Road, Rockville MD 20850
Time: 8:00 am to 5:30 pm
Bring signs stating your position and picket with us in an orderly
fashion. See below for talking points ideas.
Note: picketing is allowed without permit but we must not block
entrances/exits, participants must be ‘professionally’ dressed and must
keep moving.
Organized by: Indignant breast cancer survivors diagnosed by mammogram before age 50 or by breast self exam.
I need your help on something very important to all of us.
You may have heard some of the media uproar this past week on
recommendations released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a
group of independent physicians and researchers who are funded by the US
Government Agency, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
These guidelines state that women mammograms have not saved a
“significant” number of lives in the age group under 50 over 75 and
therefore they have (loudly) recommended against them for women in those
age groups. The thinking is that there are too many “false” positives
vs. the number of mammograms.
As a breast cancer survivor with many friends who were diagnosed in
their 40’s by mammograms, I am indignant about the release of this
study. I question the motives of the USPSTF, who refers to themselves
as “the Gold Standard” for medical care recommendations in the U.S. on
their website. My survivor friends and I have planned a general protest
at the Dept of HHS on Monday, Nov 23, to let them know that we value
even one life saved and mammograms are our best test to find early stage
breast cancer in ages 50 and under and over 75. This is as critical to
us as it is for diagnostic testing for the ages in between. We have
saved thousands of lives. Are a few false positives worth it to save a
life? In my opinion, you bet. That life might be yours or mine.
The current recommendation advocated by the American Cancer Society and
Susan G. Komen for the Cure for preventive care against early stage
breast cancer are:
Annual mammograms after age 40
Annual clinical exams
Monthly breast self exam
There are no other tests available today to determine if a woman has
early stage breast cancer. If it shows up in a blood test, it is too
late in most cases to treat it successfully. Early detection is the
only way we have been saving lives.
The ACS, Komen and other leading cancer organizations have made strong
statements against the released research findings by the USPSTF and have
stated that their guidelines will remain unchanged. However, many women
may now feel, after hearing the announcement on the national news and
subsequent discussions surrounding this information, that annual
mammograms are unnecessary and will postpone or neglect to have them.
We have come so far in the battle against breast cancer with early
detection and this is a huge setback for that message. We are also
concerned that insurance companies will ultimately interpret this
“recommendation” as sanctioned by the US Government and deny mammograms
to women between 40 and 50 and over 75. This would have an extremely
negative effect breast cancer mortality rates in the US.
PLEASE JOIN OUR PROTEST!!
AND FORWARD THIS TO YOUR FRIENDS, SURVIVORS AND LOVED ONES!
Suggested text for signs:
UNFAIR! USPSTF REVISED MAMMOGRAM AGE GUIDELINES!
OR
A MAMMOGRAM BEFORE AGE 50 SAVED MY LIFE!
OR
USPSTF: MAMMOGRAMS ARE IMPORTANT TO 40 AND 80 YEAR OLDS!
OR
USPSTF: NOT THE GOLD STANDARD IN BREAST CANCER PREVENTION
There are talking points included below in this email.
Hope to see you on Monday!
Regards -
nira
Here are some talking Points:
It is undisputed that mammograms help save lives.
The questions raised by the new recommendations made by United States
Preventive Services Task Force --- and immediately rejected by the
American Cancer Society and the American College of Obstetricians and
Gynecologists -- are about timing (to start at age 40 or 50?), and
whether they save enough lives of women in their 40s to warrant the
expense, the risk of unnecessary procedures, and the anxieties
associated with having a mammogram and learning its results.
The USPSTF used statistical modeling to predict the impact of screenings
found over a 10 year period. It found that if a thousand women beginning
at age 40 were screened with mammograms, there were small gains in
cancer deaths averted, compared to if these women started at age 50.
Specifically, their modeling found that 6.1 deaths would be averted,
compared to 5.4. The panel judged that difference to be not worth the
expense, biopsies and anxieties.
The woman whose life was saved might beg to differ.
And let’s look at those numbers in terms of larger numbers of women
screened, using the statistical modeling provided by the USPSTF:
Deaths of women averted by screening in their 40s vs. deaths of women
averted by women who start screening in their 50s:
1,000 women 6.1 5.4
10,000 women 61 54
100,000 women 610 540
1,000,000 women 6100 5400
So for every 100,000 women screened in their 40s, as opposed to waiting
till their 50s, 70 more women would live. For every one million women,
700 more women would live. Over 33 million mammograms are performed each
year in the United States.
The New York Times of 11/18/09 reported that the USPSTF also found
differences in years of life gained by women receiving mammograms in
their 40s, compared to starting mammograms at age 50:
Years of life gained per
1,000 women 120 99
10,000 women 1200 990
100,000 women 12,000 9,990
1,000,000 women 120,000 99,990
The chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, Dr. Otis
Brawley, has issued a statement saying “With its new recommendations,
the [Task Force] is essentially telling women that mammography at age 40
to 49 saves lives; just not enough of them.” In view of that, the
American Cancer Society continues to recommend yearly mammograms for
women in their 40s at average risk. Because they help save lives.
Mammography is an imperfect tool. On a public policy level, we must
demand more funding be made available to find a cure for cancer.
Mammography is a diagnostic tool, not a cure, and we need a cure. But
for the task of early and timely detection, mammograms, in conjunction
with clinical breast exams, are our best tool.