{"id":18542,"date":"2024-04-02T06:38:33","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T06:38:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2023.re-check.ch\/?page_id=18542"},"modified":"2025-04-17T13:30:35","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T13:30:35","slug":"breast-cancer-screening","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/projects\/breast-cancer-screening\/","title":{"rendered":"Breast Cancer Screening"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-1 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Breast-Cancer-Screening.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"650\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Breast-Cancer-Screening.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-18402\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Breast-Cancer-Screening.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Breast-Cancer-Screening-300x208.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Catherine Riva et Serena Tinari investigate since 2011 the case of breast cancer mammography screening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>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 \u201cMedia Award\u201d of the Swiss Academy of Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> In April 2019, an investigative documentary was broadcasted by Swiss public TV show Patti Chiari RSI.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:31px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Articles:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>2011-2012: investigations and interviews in Femina<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"block-accordeon\">\n      <ul class=\"accordion\" data-accordion data-multi-expand=\"true\" data-allow-all-closed=\"true\">\n              \n        <li class=\"accordion-item\" data-accordion-item>\n          <a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title\">2011: \u201cLe d\u00e9pistage du cancer du sein est-il une bonne mesure?\u201d (Is breast cancer screening a good intervention?)<\/a>\n          <div class=\"accordion-content\" data-tab-content>\n            <p>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.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2011-09-25_Femina_Depistage-ca-sein.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Link to article<\/a><\/p>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        \n              \n        <li class=\"accordion-item\" data-accordion-item>\n          <a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title\">2012: \u201cSi le d\u00e9pistage \u00e9tait un m\u00e9dicament, il aurait \u00e9t\u00e9 retir\u00e9\u201d (If screening was a drug, it would have been withdrawn from the market)<\/a>\n          <div class=\"accordion-content\" data-tab-content>\n            <p>Peter G\u00f8tzsche of the Nordic Cochrane Center reveals in a book the bleak underbelly of the controversy surrounding mammography screening.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/2012-02-26_Femina_Itw-PGotzsche.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Link to article<\/a><\/p>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        \n          <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Five-part investigation \u201cMammo-business\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Published in 2014-2015, available on Sept.info (in French, paid access required)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"block-accordeon\">\n      <ul class=\"accordion\" data-accordion data-multi-expand=\"true\" data-allow-all-closed=\"true\">\n              \n        <li class=\"accordion-item\" data-accordion-item>\n          <a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title\">1<sup>st<\/sup> part: \u201cLes profiteurs du mammo-business\u201d (The Mammo-business profiteers)<\/a>\n          <div class=\"accordion-content\" data-tab-content>\n            <p>Breast cancer screening may save lives. But above all, it&#8217;s a profitable business model. Investigation on a system crippled by undisclosed conflicts of interest and biased studies.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sept.info\/mammo-business-14\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Link to article<\/a><\/p>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        \n              \n        <li class=\"accordion-item\" data-accordion-item>\n          <a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title\">2<sup>nd<\/sup> part: \u201cMammo-business: un quart de si\u00e8cle de d\u00e9sinformation\u201d (Mammo-business: 25 years of disinformation)<\/a>\n          <div class=\"accordion-content\" data-tab-content>\n            <p>Breast cancer screening programs\u2019 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.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sept.info\/mammo-business-24\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Link to article<\/a><\/p>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        \n              \n        <li class=\"accordion-item\" data-accordion-item>\n          <a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title\">3<sup>rd<\/sup> part: \u201cLes pouvoirs magiques du \u2018Mammograben\u2019\u201d (The magical powers of \u201cMammograben\u201d) <\/a>\n          <div class=\"accordion-content\" data-tab-content>\n            <p>The pro-screening lobbies understood that it was enough to pronounce the word \u201cMammograben\u201d to put the media to sleep and find political relays. By inventing a Switzerland that doesn&#8217;t exist, one in which thanks to mammography breast cancer would be killing far fewer French-speaking, than German-speaking women.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sept.info\/mammo-business-34\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Link to article<\/a><\/p>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        \n              \n        <li class=\"accordion-item\" data-accordion-item>\n          <a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title\">4<sup>th<\/sup> part: \u201cMammo-business: les liaisons dangereuses\u201d (Mammo-business: dangerous liaisons) <\/a>\n          <div class=\"accordion-content\" data-tab-content>\n            <p>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\u2019 interests and the democratic control on public health.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sept.info\/mammo-business-44\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Link to article<\/a><\/p>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        \n              \n        <li class=\"accordion-item\" data-accordion-item>\n          <a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title\">5<sup>th<\/sup> part: \u201cMammo-business: les profiteurs persistent et signent\u201d (Mammo-business: its profiteers won\u2019t budge)<\/a>\n          <div class=\"accordion-content\" data-tab-content>\n            <p>Mammography breast cancer screening is back in the news with even more spectacular figures. The source is a new handbook by the WHO\u2019s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It comes with an unverifiable scientific basis and many conflicts of interest.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sept.info\/mammo-business-profit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Link to article<\/a><\/p>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        \n          <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Investigative documentaries:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"block-accordeon\">\n      <ul class=\"accordion\" data-accordion data-multi-expand=\"true\" data-allow-all-closed=\"true\">\n              \n        <li class=\"accordion-item\" data-accordion-item>\n          <a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title\">2019: \u201cMammografia: serve davvero?\u201d (Mammography screening: is it really beneficial?)<\/a>\n          <div class=\"accordion-content\" data-tab-content>\n            <p>Swiss public TV show Patti chiari RSI broadcasts our investigation \u201cMammografia: serve davvero?\u201d (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. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rsi.ch\/la1\/programmi\/informazione\/patti-chiari\/Inchieste\/inchieste-andate-in-onda\/Mammografia-serve-davvero--1779989.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Video in Italian<\/a>.<\/p>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        \n          <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PODC \u2013 Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"block-accordeon\">\n      <ul class=\"accordion\" data-accordion data-multi-expand=\"true\" data-allow-all-closed=\"true\">\n              \n        <li class=\"accordion-item\" data-accordion-item>\n          <a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title\">2017<\/a>\n          <div class=\"accordion-content\" data-tab-content>\n            <p>At the 2017 Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference (PODC) we presented our investigation on \u201cD\u00e9pistage par mammographie, surdiagnostic et conflits d\u2019int\u00e9r\u00eats. Le cas d\u2019\u00e9cole des premiers programmes de d\u00e9pistage en Suisse\u201d (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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/podc2017-e\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">article<\/a> on the conference&#8217;s panels and contributors.<\/p>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        \n              \n        <li class=\"accordion-item\" data-accordion-item>\n          <a href=\"#\" class=\"accordion-title\">2018<\/a>\n          <div class=\"accordion-content\" data-tab-content>\n            <p>At the 2018 Preventing Overdiagnosis Conference (PODC) we presented a <a href=\"https:\/\/zenodo.org\/records\/2023152\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">poster<\/a> in conversation on \u201cGhost Management in Medicine and Public Health\u201d that included a map about mammography screening. The abstract was published in a special edition of BMJ-Evidence-Based Medicine. doi: <a href=\"https:\/\/ebm.bmj.com\/content\/23\/Suppl_2\/A49.3.info\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10.1136\/bmjebm-2018-111070.105<\/a><\/p>\n          <\/div>\n        <\/li>\n        \n          <\/ul>\n  <\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"back\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/projects\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"15015\"><i class=\"icofont-rounded-left\"><\/i> back<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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<a class=\"excerpt-read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/projects\/breast-cancer-screening\/\" title=\"ReadBreast Cancer Screening\">&#8230; Read more &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":15015,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"template-full-width.php","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-18542","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18542"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18542"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20365,"href":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18542\/revisions\/20365"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/15015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.re-check.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}