Myth #25: The media accurately reports breast cancer science. 

FALSE. Breast cancer is a complex disease with complex treatments. It is often difficult to capture all essential pieces of information in a short news segment or article.

Coming up on the five o’clock news: scientists have discovered a cure for breast cancer. Up next at 11 o’clock: the new breast cancer causing agent that might be lurking in your kitchen cabinets. Television programs and newspaper articles frequently report on the latest study in breast cancer causes, treatments and cures -- each announcing the latest breakthrough, or caution, of the disease. While many of these stories are correct and others may contain some correct information, that is not always the case.  And they don’t always portray an accurate picture of the state of the disease.

 
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The media often gravitate toward stories that are extremely hopeful, or extremely fearful. However, the truth often falls within the middle ground, and in the small details. Breast cancer is a complex issue that can’t be summarized into sound bites. As a result, the media sometimes gets the story right, but not always. Learn the facts about breast cancer to be able to separate fact from fiction and accuracy from sensationalism.

 

31 Myths and Truths about Breast Cancer

1
Myth #1: Monthly breast self exams save lives
2
Myth #2: Mammograms can only help and not harm you
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Myth #3: MRI is better than mammography because it finds more cancer
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Truth #4: When breast cancer shows up on a mammogram, it may have been in your body for 6-10 years
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Truth #5: Breast cancer mortality rates are declining
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Myth #6: Mammograms prevent breast cancer
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Truth #7: We don’t know how to prevent breast cancer
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Myth #8: Most women with breast cancer have a family history of the disease
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Myth #9: Men don’t get breast cancer
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Truth #10: Risk of breast cancer increases with age
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Truth #11: Most people think they have a higher risk of breast cancer than they actually do
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Myth #12: Everyone's breast cancer is the same
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Myth #13: Everyone who has a positive BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 test result will get breast cancer
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Truth #14: The mortality rate from breast cancer is higher for African American women than for Caucasian women
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Myth #15: In terms of survival, removing the entire breast is better than just cutting the cancer out and getting radiation
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Myth #16: There are drugs that can prevent breast cancer
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Myth #17: Once diagnosed with breast cancer, it’s very important to make treatment decisions immediately
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Myth #18: Second opinions are only for treatment options. Once I know I have breast cancer, I can get a second opinion on how to treat the disease
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Truth #19: Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) increases your risk of breast cancer
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Myth #20: With new treatments we can now cure breast cancer
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Truth #21: You should question your doctor
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Myth #22: If I am not a scientist, then I won’t be able to understand breast cancer research
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Truth #23: Your tax dollars fund a significant amount of breast cancer research
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Myth #24: My Senators and Members of Congress have no role in what happens in breast cancer
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Myth #25: The media accurately reports breast cancer science
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Myth #26: All breast cancer research is good because it moves us toward prevention and a cure
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Myth #27: Breast cancer survivors are too close to the issue to participate in how research money is spent
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Truth #28: Less than 3% of adult cancer patients participate in clinical trials
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Truth #29: I can educate myself
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Truth #30: I can influence what happens in Washington D.C. about breast cancer
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Truth #31: I can make a difference