The Breast Brouhaha
By GAIL COLLINS
NYT
Everyone has been trying to come up with a good nickname for the 10 years we’re concluding next month. Terror Era really sounds like too much of a downer. How about the Decade of Medical Backtracking?
Somewhere between the reports that Pap smears and tests for prostate cancer aren’t all they were cracked up to be and the news that a high fiber diet doesn’t do anything to prevent cancer, the health establishment began looking decidedly nonomniscient. Then this week, a federal task force reported that most women don’t need annual mammograms.
Even more fascinating, they suggested that doctors stop telling their female patients to self-examine their breasts for lumps.
If you happen to be a woman, particularly a somewhat obsessive woman, this is huge news. The to-do list just got one item shorter. Now if dentists would just decide to withdraw the flossing directive, we may have enough additional spare time to learn Spanish.
(More here.)
NYT
Everyone has been trying to come up with a good nickname for the 10 years we’re concluding next month. Terror Era really sounds like too much of a downer. How about the Decade of Medical Backtracking?
Somewhere between the reports that Pap smears and tests for prostate cancer aren’t all they were cracked up to be and the news that a high fiber diet doesn’t do anything to prevent cancer, the health establishment began looking decidedly nonomniscient. Then this week, a federal task force reported that most women don’t need annual mammograms.
Even more fascinating, they suggested that doctors stop telling their female patients to self-examine their breasts for lumps.
If you happen to be a woman, particularly a somewhat obsessive woman, this is huge news. The to-do list just got one item shorter. Now if dentists would just decide to withdraw the flossing directive, we may have enough additional spare time to learn Spanish.
(More here.)
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