Expert Claims Self-Checks For Breast Cancer Harm Women

British newspaper The Sun has recently launched a campaign encouraging self-checks for breast cancer among women every Tuesday, but one doctor is claiming that campaigns like this actually do more harm in the fight against breast cancer than good.

Dr. Margaret McCarthey, a Glasgow-based general practitioner argues that encouraging women to regularly check their breasts won't actually do them any good, and actually might prove harmful in the long run. She argued her points in a recent article published by the British Medical Journal, a respected and well-known peer-reviewed scientific journal.

"It is unfair to tell women that regular self examination will save their lives when it may simply incur anxiety and have the potential to harm," McCarthey writes. "Sound bites, beyond the safety of scientific qualification, can denature evidence."

What she means by "sound bites" is unfounded claims. According to McCarthy, there isn't any real scientific evidence that proves that self-checks for signs of breast cancer help detect the cancer earlier and saves lives. In-fact, the doctor explains, past research shows just the opposite -- where regular self-checks do no reduce deaths and increase the rates of benign biopsy reports.

Results such as these mirror results from other reports that claim that even regular mammograms do nothing to reduce death rates associated with breast cancer, and simply cost the medical community time and money.

McCarthy was inspired to write her article in response to a recent campaign by popular British newspaper, The Sun. As an alternative to its traditional steamy page three, which normally features topless models, the newspaper has recently opted to feature other topless women instead, covering their breasts with their hands and encouraging self-checks for breast cancer on "check 'em Tuesdays." A non-profit organization, which is involved in the campaign, even offers text message reminders on Tuesdays to perform self-examinations.

But McCarthy argues that these campaigns take attention away from the real work that could help save lives. She writes that while media organizations and non-profits sink money into campaigns promoting "useless" self-checks, research groups and proven treatments struggle to find backing.

"If we fail to critically evaluate campaigns on cancer, we create the appearance of doing something useful while potentially distracting from what might really help. In doing so we potentially harm the very women we're purporting to help," McCarthy concludes.

The doctor's article was published in the British Medical Journal on April 2.

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