Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Julianne LaJeunesse - University of New Mexico/Talk Radio News Service

Former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary Nancy Brinker said Monday that a recent U.S. Preventative Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendation that suggests limiting mammogram screenings for women under 50 was issued by “accomplished people,” but is not relevant under current technological capacities.

“We got to focus on what we know,” said Brinker. “And what works is what we know: Early detection, awareness, research and treatment, and yes, screening mammography and self-awareness.”

A breast cancer survivor herself, Brinker, who founded the organization "Susan G. Komen for the Cure" - named after her only sister who died from breast cancer in 1980 at the age of 36 - currently serves as the World Health Organization's Goodwill Ambassador for Cancer Control.

Brinker credited breast cancer screenings for its preemptive uses, but added that last week’s recommendations were “strangely” helpful in that they addressed screening areas that lag.

“We know mammography works, but we also know it’s imperfect,” she said. “We do need better screening technology. This technology that we’re using today, though it’s been improved and regenerated, is still almost 50-years-old. What other business or field that we know in the United States, or around the world, would use 50-year-old technology?”

Proponents of the USPSTF recommendations released last Monday, say that if followed, the suggestions would save time, money and personal health “scares.” Due to the timing of its release, the study has also been linked to the larger debate on health care reform.

Speaking on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz (D-Fla.) accused the GOP of politicizing the USPSTF’s recommendation by portraying it as an example of government-provided health care rationing.

Brinker said the Komen organization’s role in health care reform is participatory and that they are working to “improve screening coverage, [ban] insurance discrimination for people with pre-existing conditions, [lower] out-of-pocket expenses, and [provide] patient navigator services.”

When asked about how patients might deal with insurance providers who would potentially deny mammograms, Brinker said the organization has “ways to explain people’s cases and to make sure that we protect people.”