Breast Cancer Screening

Catherine Riva et Serena Tinari investigate since 2011 the case of breast cancer mammography screening.

A five-part investigation was published the Swiss magazine Sept.info in 2014-2015. It revealed the opaque and conflicts of interest riddled system that was built up in Switzerland around such programs. It delved into the medical, scientific, political, media, economic and institutional stakes involved in promoting early breast cancer detection. The first two installments won the 2014 “Media Award” of the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

In April 2019, an investigative documentary was broadcasted by Swiss public TV show Patti Chiari RSI.

Articles:

2011-2012: investigations and interviews in Femina

2011: “Le dépistage du cancer du sein est-il une bonne mesure?” (Is breast cancer screening a good intervention?)

Breast cancer screening programs have been touted as an egalitarian measure, one which helps save lives by treating sick women as early as possible. But scientific studies cast doubts on the effectiveness of the approach. Update on a controversy.

Link to article
2012: “Si le dépistage était un médicament, il aurait été retiré” (If screening was a drug, it would have been withdrawn from the market)

Peter Gøtzsche of the Nordic Cochrane Center reveals in a book the bleak underbelly of the controversy surrounding mammography screening.

Link to article

Five-part investigation “Mammo-business”

Published in 2014-2015, available on Sept.info (in French, paid access required)

1^st part: “Les profiteurs du mammo-business” (The Mammo-business profiteers)

Breast cancer screening may save lives. But above all, it’s a profitable business model. Investigation on a system crippled by undisclosed conflicts of interest and biased studies.

Link to article
2^nd part: “Mammo-business: un quart de siècle de désinformation” (Mammo-business: 25 years of disinformation)

Breast cancer screening programs’ implementation is built on a dubious scientific basis. However, it has become the norm thanks to a lobby that applied no less dubious means to rule out any dispute: threats, ostracism and cover-ups.

Link to article
3^rd part: “Les pouvoirs magiques du ‘Mammograben’” (The magical powers of “Mammograben”)

The pro-screening lobbies understood that it was enough to pronounce the word “Mammograben” to put the media to sleep and find political relays. By inventing a Switzerland that doesn’t exist, one in which thanks to mammography breast cancer would be killing far fewer French-speaking, than German-speaking women.

Link to article
4^th part: “Mammo-business: les liaisons dangereuses” (Mammo-business: dangerous liaisons)

Mammo-business promoters, breast cancer specialists and the pharmaceutical industry have converging interests. Often presented as positive and desirable, these proximities turn out to be detrimental to the patients’ interests and the democratic control on public health.

Link to article
5^th part: “Mammo-business: les profiteurs persistent et signent” (Mammo-business: its profiteers won’t budge)

Mammography breast cancer screening is back in the news with even more spectacular figures. The source is a new handbook by the WHO’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It comes with an unverifiable scientific basis and many conflicts of interest.

Link to article

Investigative documentaries:

2019: “Mammografia: serve davvero?” (Mammography screening: is it really beneficial?)

Swiss public TV show Patti chiari RSI broadcasts our investigation “Mammografia: serve davvero?” (Mammography screening: is it really of benefit?) in a single-theme edition. The stories delve into the scientific evidence behind the screening programs, into the level of information given to their participants and into the stakeholders of a rather costly public health intervention. Discussing live the investigation outcomes during the show: oncologists Michael Baum and Olivia Pagani. Video in Italian.

PODC – Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference:

2017

At the 2017 Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference (PODC) we presented our investigation on “Dépistage par mammographie, surdiagnostic et conflits d’intérêts. Le cas d’école des premiers programmes de dépistage en Suisse” (Mammography screening, overdiagnosis and conflicts of interest. The textbook case of the first screening programs in Switzerland) (in French). Re-Check.ch published as well an extensive article on the conference’s panels and contributors.
2018

At the 2018 Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference (PODC) we presented a poster in conversation on “Ghost Management in Medicine and Public Health” that included a map about mammography screening. The abstract was published in a special edition of BMJ-Evidence-Based Medicine. doi: 10.1136/bmjebm-2018-111070.105

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