Caution on the Mammography News

By now, you've likely heard about this study in BMJ, which found that, in a population of 90,000 women tracked for 25 years, cancer mortality was the same among women who'd received mammograms annually as it was among women in the control arm, who hadn't. This has led to headlines like, "Vast Study Casts Doubts on Value of Mammograms," or "Study Shows Mammograms Don't Save Lives." Those headlines (and the associated articles) aren't inaccurate, but it's important to note that the women in the mammogram arm of the study and the women in the control arm were all receiving annual breast breast exams. That is, the study shows that adding mammography to a regime of regular breast examination doesn't do more than merely having regular breast examination. Women should not stop mammography without ensuring that they get, or continue to get, ordinary annual breast exams.

Komen Re-funds Planned Parenthood, Sorta

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure folks have reversed themselves on the question of funding Planned Parenthood's breast-cancer screening and mammography referral services. A statement released today said the foundation was revising its no-funding-for-people-under-investigation policy so as not to include political, as opposed to criminal, investigations. (As I blogged earlier, there's an ongoing congressional investigation into the question whether Planned Parenthood uses any federal funds for abortions, and Komen originally pointed to the existence of that investigation as a reason for discontinuing funding.) The statement said nothing about another reason Komen has given for the de-funding of Planned Parenthood, namely, that they don't provide mammography services directly, but only make referrals for them. The statement says funding for Planned Parenthood will continue to flow under existing agreements, and that Planned Parenthood will remain eligible to apply for more funding in the future. It remains to be seen whether Planned Parenthood's angered constituency will revise its views on Komen as quickly as Komen has revised its grantmaking policy.

UPDATE: This piece has persuaded me that there's less of a reversal here than meets the eye. Komen never intended to renege on existing commitments to Planned Parenthood, so saying they're going to continue funding them isn't any change. Saying Planned Parenthood is eligible to apply for further funding is, in fact, a reversal of their "no money to folks being investigated" policy, but isn't a guarantee that funding will flow. We'll see how many grants are actually made to Planned Parenthood in the future....

ANOTHER UPDATE: Further evidence that there's less to this "reversal" than meets the eye is here. And here, too.

Komen Defunds Planned Parenthood

By now anyone who spends any time on the net is aware that the leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, has decided to pull all funding for breast cancer screening from Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood is saying that the move is a cave-in by Komen to pro-life political pressure. Komen has responded that the move isn't political; it's just that they have a new policy of not funding organizations that are under investigation, and Planned Parenthood is under a (highly political) investigation by Congress about whether they're violating the Hyde Amendment by using federal funds for abortions.

A few of the more interesting tidbits from the web:

A number of pieces, including this one, and this rather less mild one, about how the decision was influenced by Komen's new senior VP, Karen Handel--a pro-life former Republican candidate for the Georgia governorship, endorsed by Sarah Palin; pieces like this one, claiming that the immediate outcry from Planned Parenthood supporters has already resulted in PP recouping much of the money it won't get from Komen, and may deliver a real long-term blow to Komen; pieces like this one, showing enthusiasm for Komen's move among some religious and pro-life groups; articles like this one, and this, detailing past Komen-related controversies, like suing other charities for using "cure" and pink ribbons at their events, and lending their support to unhealthy products like KFC ("because nothing says that you care about women's health like a big vat of fried chicken"); this meta-coverage of the Internet/Social Media response to the news; and this story about a dissenting Komen affiliate group in Connecticut.

I'm guessing, along with many others, that Komen will emerge a loser here, and that Planned Parenthood will benefit significantly from the anger stirred up in its pro-choice base--and from the sense in the broader women's health community that Komen's political move threatens access of the poorest women to preventative breast-cancer screening.