25 Year Canadian Study Finds Mammography Screening Useless

In the past 40 years, there has never been a more controversial test than mammography and for many good reasons. The most recent Canadian Study based on 25 years of follow up for breast cancer incidence and mortality concluded that there is no benefit to breast cancer screening.  Regular screening does not reduce mortality yet leads to over diagnosis and over treatment.  In other words routine mammography screening, the holy grail of the cancer industry, causes more harm than good for millions of women.

In November of 2012 the New England Journal of Medicine published ‘Effect of Three Decades of Screening Mammography on Breast Cancer Incidence” stating that breast cancer was over diagnosed i.e. "tumors were detected on screening that would never have led to clinical symptoms," in 1.3 million U.S. women over the past 30 years.

A few years prior another long term study was published by the Cochrane Centre in Denmark which concluded that for every 2000 women invited for screening throughout 10 years, one will have her life prolonged. In addition, 10 healthy women, who would not have been diagnosed if there had not been screening, will be diagnosed as breast cancer patients and will be treated unnecessarily. It is thus not clear whether screening does more good than harm. Women invited to screening should be fully informed of both benefits and harms.

The really sad thing is that similar studies have been published almost annually for the past 15 years, and one can only wonder how much longer the mammography lobby can continue to sweep this information under the carpet. The time is ripe to critically evaluate conventional medicine's standard of care and to educate the public further to the true causes of cancer, and how to prevent it.

Our resources would be better allocated to promote health and prevention rather than disease and treatment. Women can reduce the risk of breast cancer by making basic lifestyle changes such as eating healthy, balancing their hormones, moving about more, staying lean, and drinking less alcohol.

We should change our focus from Breast Cancer Awareness to Breast Cancer Prevention by providing more relevant and realistic information that will assist women in developing a healthier lifestyle, thereby proactively reducing their risk and incidence of breast cancer. 

In my opinion, the current approach for the “early detection” of indiscriminate breast cancer screening is inadequate at best and dangerous at worst. By the time a lesion is detected using mammography, it has already been developing for approximately 8 to 9 years. This is not “early detection” by any stretch of the imagination.  For the past 15 years I have worked on educating and helping women to reduce their risks of breast cancer and attain better health. To get more information on breast cancer prevention strategies I invite you to explore the rest of this site or to contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.