Fight for early breast cancer screening

I have been active in promoting breast cancer awareness for more than 20 years, having lost a sister to breast cancer at the age of 39. As a board member and officer of the non-profit Iowa Breast Cancer Action Foundation, I've watched with pride the tremendous strides we have made against breast cancer in the past two decades thanks to our country's investment in treatment and research.

This progress is in jeopardy. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recently released a draft of its recommendation for breast cancer screening which, if adopted, will negatively impact all of the progress we have made to date.

For example, their recommendation is that women age 50 to 74 should receive mammograms every two years. According to the American Cancer Society, it is estimated that 24,630 women under the age of 45 will be diagnosed with breast cancer.

Adopting the task force's recommendations will hurt all families, especially young women with young children. The negative implications of these recommendations include:

' Potentially decrease insurance coverage for mammography screening for women age 40-49, creating financial barriers for these women to access mammograms.

' Additional deaths due to breast cancer and more extensive and expensive treatments resulting from delayed diagnosis of the disease.

' Create missed opportunities to diagnose breast cancer early and save lives.

My thoughts go to two women in our group who were diagnosed in their 30s. Both lost their lives to breast cancer in their early 40s, leaving behind husbands and young children. They go to my sister, whose teenage daughter had to deal with the loss of her mother, the center of her world!

It is heart wrenching for children to lose their mothers at such a critical stage. Their absence will be felt for the rest of their lives. Mothers who will never see their children graduate from high school nor ever be able to experience the wonder of holding their grandchild.

Is this the type of society we want?

Please contact your congressional representatives to express your concern over the task force's draft recommendations. You also can make a public comment before 8 p.m. on May 18.

' Cindy Young is treasurer of the Iowa Breast Cancer Action Foundation. Comments: treasurer@ibcaf.org